Lymphoma First-line treatment
for indolent and mantle cell lymphomas
Douglas Stewart,
MD, FRCPC, Chief, Division of Hematology &
Hematologic Malignancies, University of Calgary;
Provincial Leader, Hematology Tumor Team,
AHS Cancer Care.
To view the complete article click
here (pdf format)
TRIAL SUMMARY
: Improved PFS with bendamustine +
rituximab
To view the complete article click
here (pdf format)
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
June 1-5, 2012, Chicago, Illinois
In Brief
Already
known
The majority
of patients with advanced stage symptomatic
indolent lymphoma in Canada are initially
treated with R-CVP followed by maintenance
rituximab.
Rituximab
maintenance after induction chemoimmunotherapy
results in markedly superior PFS vs observation
for patients with follicular lymphoma.
What this
study showed
In patients
with previously untreated indolent or MCL
patients, at median follow-up of 45 months,
PFS was significantly prolonged with B-R vs
CHOP-R.
Next steps
BR is replacing
R-CHOP and R-CVP as initial therapy for indolent
and mantle cell lymphoma in many countries;
Canada is likely to follow suit.
Bendamustine
will be chosen as the standard chemotherapy
backbone in future prospective clinical trials
evaluating new treatments for indolent and
mantle cell lymphoma.
