Addition of Rituximab Significantly Improves Outcomes in Patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma – a Single-center, Retrospective Study

Belada, David; Smolej, Lukáš; Hrudková, Monika; Štěpánková, Pavla; Sýkorová, Alice; Žák, Pavel; Bukač, Jiří; Malý, Jaroslav

doi:10.14712/18059694.2017.66

Acta Medica > Archive > 2007, Vol. 50 > Issue 2 > Addition of Rituximab Significantly…

Acta Med. 2007, 50: 113-118

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2017.66

Addition of Rituximab Significantly Improves Outcomes in Patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma – a Single-center, Retrospective Study

David Belada^a, Lukáš Smolej^a, Monika Hrudková^a, Pavla Štěpánková^a, Alice Sýkorová^a, Pavel Žák^a, Jiří Bukač^b, Jaroslav Malý^a

^aCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, 2nd Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Hematology, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
^bCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Department of Medical Biophysics, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Received March 1, 2007
Accepted May 1, 2007

CHOP chemotherapy has been used as a standard first-line treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma since the 1970s. Phase III trials have shown that the addition of rituximab (R) to CHOP chemotherapy leads to significant improvements in response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival. This single-center, retrospective study was performed to evaluate the role of the addition of R to chemotherapy (CHT) in a real-world clinical setting. Outcomes were assessed in 85 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL treated with CHT alone (n=38) and R-CHT (n=47). Complete response (CR) rates were significantly higher after R-CHT than CHT (93 % vs. 73 %; p=0.02). The relapse rate was significantly higher after CHT compared with R-CHT (38 % versus 12 %; p=0.01). Progression-free survival was significantly extended by the addition of R (median not reached versus 26.1 months; p=0.04). These data bring further support for rituximab- based immunochemotherapy as a standard first-line therapy for patients with DLBCL.

Keywords

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Rituximab, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Immunochemotherapy.

Funding

This work was supported by research project MZO 00179906 from Ministry of Health, Czech Republic, and by grant NR 8231–3/2004 from Internal Grant Agency, Ministry of Health, Czech Republic.