In:
Blood, American Society of Hematology, Vol. 128, No. 22 ( 2016-12-02), p. 1781-1781
Abstract:
Introduction Patients with follicular lymphomas (FL) often follow an indolent disease course initiated with the wait-and-watch approach. Chemotherapy, including rituximab (R), is inevitably required in most patients though. R-maintenance is indicated for patients achieving a partial or complete remission based results from randomized clinical trials and confirmed by meta-analyses demonstrating a prolonged progression free survival. A benefit in overall survival (OS), however, has yet to be established in the first line setting. Patients and methods We completed a retrospective analysis in patients extracted from the Danish National Lymphoma Register. Eligible patient data included histopathological confirmation of FL diagnosed in the period 2000-2014 who received R-Chemotherapy as first line treatment and surviving a minimum 1 year after treatment initiation. A Cox regression model was performed, adjusted for age, gender, stage, response rates and treatment period (pre-maintenance era (year 2000-2010) vs. maintenance era (year 2011-2014)) with hazard ratio (HR) of OS as the primary endpoint. All patients were followed until June 2016. Results 1037 patients were extracted from the register. 481 patients received R-maintenance (RM-group) and 556 patients did not. The median age was 62 (26-90), 526 (51%) were male, LDH was elevated in 325 (31%) and 436 (42%) had a high FLIPI index. The median follow-up time was 6.3 years. The five year OS for all patients was 86%. A significant change in the chemotherapy regimens was observed between the two groups, since Bendamustine was more frequently used in the maintenance group. A significant lower HR was observed in the RM group with a HR of 0.63 (95% CI 0.44 - 0.88, P = 0.008). Furthermore, gender proved of significance, with a HR for men of 1.78 (95% CI 1.32-2.40, P 〈 0.001). Conclusions Rituximab maintenance treatment following first line immunochemotherapy in patients with follicular lymphoma improved survival in a large population based cohort of patients and consolidates this strategy as part of the standard of care in this patient group. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0006-4971
,
1528-0020
DOI:
10.1182/blood.V128.22.1781.1781
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Society of Hematology
Publication Date:
2016
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1468538-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
80069-7
