Welcome to Medivizor!

You're browsing our sample library. Feel free to continue browsing. You can also sign up for free to receive medical information specific to your situation.

Posted by on Aug 30, 2020 in Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | 0 comments

In a nutshell

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of 2 drug regimens for patients with grade 3A follicular lymphoma (FL3A). The authors concluded that R-CHOP has a benefit over RB in the treatment of these patients.

Some background

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).FL usually has good outcomes after chemotherapy and immunotherapy. FL is divided into groups according to aggressiveness. Grade 1-2 is considered less aggressive, while 3A and 3B are considered more aggressive.

For FL1-2 and FL3B there are very clear recommendations for treatment. FL1-2 is commonly treated with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) or bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) or obinutuzumab (Gazyva). FL3B is treated as an aggressive NHL with R-CHOP that includes CHOP plus rituximab. However, whether patients with FL3A should be treated as a less aggressive NHL with rituximabbendamustine (RB) or more aggressively with R-CHOP is still unknown.  

Methods & findings

There were 95 patients with FL3A included in this study. 59 patients received R-CHOP and 36 received R-B. Follow-up was 56 months in patients with FL3A.

95% of patients in the R-CHOP group responded to treatment compared to 76% in the R-B group. After 3 years, 87% of patients in the R-CHOP group were estimated to survive compared to 73% in the R-B group. 54% of the R-CHOP group relapsed compared to 51% of the R-B group.

Another analysis included 203 patients with FL1-2. 98 patients were treated with R-CHOP and 105 with R-B. Follow-up was 64 months in patients with FL1-2.

91% of patients treated with R-CHOP and 89% with R-B responded to treatment. The 3-year survival was similar with R-CHOP (91%) and R-B treatment (95%). Patients with FL1-2 had a 68% relapse rate in the R-CHOP group compared to 24% in the R-B group. At 3 years, the R-B had a significantly longer survival rate without cancer worsening (79%) compared to the R-CHOP group (47%).

The bottom line

The authors concluded that in patients with FL3A treated with first-line R-CHOP had significantly longer overall survival as compared to patients treated with R-B. Patients with FL1-2 had longer survival without cancer worsening when treated with R-B.

The fine print

This study was based on medical records. Information might have been incomplete. 

Published By :

Annals of Hematology

Date :

Jul 30, 2020

Original Title :

First-line treatment with R-CHOP or rituximab-bendamustine in patients with follicular lymphoma grade 3A-results of a retrospective analysis.

click here to get personalized updates