Adverse events

Patients receive rituximab IV and doxorubicin hydrochloride IV over 15 minutes on day 1, cyclophosphamide IV over 30-60 minutes on days 1 and 2, pegfilgrastim SC on day 3, vincristine IV on days 1 and 8, high-dose methotrexate IV over 2-4 hours on day 15, and leucovorin calcium IV beginning 24 hours after the start of methotrexate and continuing every 6 hours until level is adequate. Patients receive CNS prophylaxis of methotrexate IT, cytarabine IT, and hydrocortisone IT on day 1. Patients with high-risk disease receive an additional dose of cytarabine IT on day 3. Patients also receive G-CSF SC once daily on days 3-9. Once the methotrexate levels drops below 50 nmol/L, patients resume G-CSF SC once daily beginning on approximately day 18 and continuing until blood counts recover.

Patients receive rituximab IV on day 1, ifosfamide IV continuously and etoposide IV continuously over 24 hours on days 1-5, and high-dose cytarabine IV over 1-3 hours twice daily on days 1-2. Patients receive CNS prophylaxis comprising methotrexate IT and hydrocortisone IT on day 5. Patients also receive pegfilgrastim SC once 24-48 hours after completion of chemotherapy OR G-CSF SC beginning on day 6 and continuing until blood counts recover. Patients with CNS involvement (leptomeningeal and/or intraparenchymal) at diagnosis do not receive CNS prophylaxis as above. Instead, these patients receive a combination of sequential liposomal cytarabine and methotrexate IT or via an Ommaya reservoir on day 1 and then every 14 days as tolerated until completion of systemic chemotherapy.