# The lymphoma regimen alphabet: R-CHOP, pola-R-CHP, DA-EPOCH-R, ABVD, BEACOPP and the rest Source: https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-tx-regimen-alphabet/ OnCo record `lymphoma-tx-regimen-alphabet` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence. ## TL;DR Lymphoma treatment is written in acronyms, one letter per drug. This entry spells out the ones a patient will see on a chart or a consent form, and says which disease each belongs to. ## Summary Each acronym is a fixed recipe of drugs given on a fixed schedule, usually in three- or four-week cycles. Aggressive B-cell lymphoma. R-CHOP is rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin (hydroxydaunorubicin), vincristine (Oncovin) and prednisolone, every 21 days. Pola-R-CHP swaps vincristine for polatuzumab vedotin. DA-EPOCH-R adds etoposide and gives the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and etoposide as a 96-hour infusion with the dose adjusted upward or downward by the neutrophil count in the previous cycle. Salvage regimens before a transplant are R-ICE (ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide), R-DHAP (dexamethasone, high-dose cytarabine, cisplatin) and R-GDP (gemcitabine, dexamethasone, cisplatin); R-GemOx (gemcitabine and oxaliplatin) is the gentler outpatient option for people who will never have a transplant. Burkitt and high-grade disease. CODOX-M/IVAC alternates cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and high-dose methotrexate with ifosfamide, etoposide and high-dose cytarabine. Hyper-CVAD alternates part A (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone) with part B (high-dose methotrexate and cytarabine). Both are intensive and inpatient; DA-EPOCH-R is the outpatient alternative. Brain. MATRix is methotrexate, cytarabine, thiotepa and rituximab. Indolent B-cell. BR is bendamustine and rituximab. R-CVP replaces the doxorubicin of R-CHOP with nothing and keeps cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone. R-squared, written R2, is rituximab and lenalidomide with no chemotherapy at all. Mantle cell. VR-CAP substitutes bortezomib for vincristine. The Nordic and European young-patient regimens alternate R-CHOP with R-DHAP or use R-maxi-CHOP with high-dose cytarabine before an autologous transplant. Hodgkin lymphoma. ABVD is doxorubicin (Adriamycin), bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine. AVD is ABVD without the bleomycin. A+AVD adds brentuximab vedotin, N-AVD adds nivolumab. Escalated BEACOPP is bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone at increased doses; BrECADD replaces the bleomycin, vincristine and procarbazine with brentuximab vedotin and dacarbazine. T-cell. CHOP is R-CHOP without the rituximab, because T cells do not carry CD20. CHOEP adds etoposide. A+CHP replaces vincristine with brentuximab vedotin. SMILE is dexamethasone (steroid), methotrexate, ifosfamide, L-asparaginase and etoposide, for extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma. ## Fields - Kind: Term - Last checked: 2026-09-29 - Also known as: Lymphoma chemotherapy acronyms; R-CHP; DA-EPOCH-R; R-ICE; R-DHAP; R-GemOx; CODOX-M/IVAC; MATRix; BrECADD; SMILE; CHOEP; VR-CAP; R-CVP; BR ## Sources - Alliance/CALGB 50303: DA-EPOCH-R against R-CHOP in DLBCL, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2019: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.18.01994 - Risk-adapted DA-EPOCH-R in adult Burkitt lymphoma, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2020: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.00303 - NCI PDQ: adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment (health professional): https://www.cancer.gov/types/lymphoma/hp/adult-nhl-treatment-pdq ## Connected records - cancers: [Advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (stage III to IV)](https://onco.cc/cancers/advanced-stage-classical-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/), [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [Early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (stage I to II)](https://onco.cc/cancers/early-stage-classical-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Follicular lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/follicular-lymphoma/), [Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Mantle cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/mantle-cell-lymphoma/), [Nodal T-follicular helper cell lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic type (angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/angioimmunoblastic-t-cell-lymphoma/), [Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (nodular lymphocyte-predominant B-cell lymphoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/nodular-lymphocyte-predominant-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/), [Primary CNS lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/primary-cns-lymphoma/), [Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/primary-mediastinal-b-cell-lymphoma/), [Relapsed and refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/relapsed-refractory-hodgkin-lymphoma/) - drugs: [Asparaginase (pegaspargase, calaspargase pegol, Erwinia asparaginase)](https://onco.cc/drugs/asparaginase/), [Bendamustine](https://onco.cc/drugs/bendamustine/), [Bleomycin](https://onco.cc/drugs/bleomycin/), [Bortezomib](https://onco.cc/drugs/bortezomib/), [Brentuximab vedotin](https://onco.cc/drugs/brentuximab-vedotin/), [Carboplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/carboplatin/), [Cisplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/cisplatin/), [Cyclophosphamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyclophosphamide/), [Cytarabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/cytarabine/), [Dacarbazine](https://onco.cc/drugs/dacarbazine/), [Dexamethasone](https://onco.cc/drugs/dexamethasone/), [Doxorubicin](https://onco.cc/drugs/doxorubicin/), [Etoposide](https://onco.cc/drugs/etoposide/), [Gemcitabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/gemcitabine/), [Ifosfamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/ifosfamide/), [Lenalidomide](https://onco.cc/drugs/lenalidomide/), [Methotrexate](https://onco.cc/drugs/methotrexate/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/), [Oxaliplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/oxaliplatin/), [Polatuzumab vedotin](https://onco.cc/drugs/polatuzumab-vedotin/), [Prednisone](https://onco.cc/drugs/prednisone/), [Procarbazine](https://onco.cc/drugs/procarbazine/), [Rituximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/rituximab/), [Thiotepa](https://onco.cc/drugs/thiotepa/), [Vinblastine](https://onco.cc/drugs/vinblastine/), [Vincristine](https://onco.cc/drugs/vincristine/) - terms: [ABVD, BEACOPP and BrECADD (Hodgkin lymphoma regimens)](https://onco.cc/terms/abvd-beacopp/), [Maintenance and consolidation in lymphoma: where it works and where it does not](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-tx-maintenance/), [R-CHOP (lymphoma chemoimmunotherapy)](https://onco.cc/terms/r-chop/) --- JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/lymphoma-tx-regimen-alphabet.json