NIH study finds low-intensity therapy for Burkitt lymphoma is highly effective

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Adult patients with a type of cancer known as Burkitt lymphoma had excellent long-term survival rates — upwards of 90 percent — following treatment with low-intensity chemotherapy regimens, according to a new clinical trial finding. Standard treatment for Burkitt lymphoma involves high-dose chemotherapy, which has a high rate of toxicity, including death, and cures only 60 percent of adult patients. This trial was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and appeared Nov. 14, 2013, in the New England Journal of Medicine.