The long-term outcome of 116 NHL patients (38 CB, 33 IB, 24 LB, 11 high-grade unclassified, 9 PTCL, 1 Ki-1 lymphoma - see list of abbreviations) treated with an age-adjusted CHOP regimen from 1980-85 was evaluated. The median age was 64 years. Of these patients 28% had significant comorbidity. CB patients had the best outcome; the median survival was not reached after 110 months. However, the differences in survival of all histological entities are not significant (P = 0.08). Fifty-six percent of the patients had clinical stages I-II. The CR rate of all 116 patients was 47%. After a median follow-up of 58 months, 30% of the patients are alive and disease-free. Of 14 relapses 11 occurred within 2 years. The median time period before relapse was 9 months. Salvage therapy failed, as none of the IB and LB patients achieved CR. Five CB patients had CR with second-line therapy, four had PR after induction therapy, one patient relapsed after 30 months. Of the CR patients 15% developed second or third neoplasms. Only one instance of acute myeloblastic leukemia was observed. These results indicate that age-adjusted CHOP is a well-tolerated therapy.