Background & objective: The efficacy of rituximab given alone or in combination with chemotherapy on naive or relapsed indolent lymphoma is good. This study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of rituximab-containing regimens for patients with indolent B-cell lymphoma in China.
Methods: From Mar. 1999 to Jan. 2005, 34 patients with indolent B-cell lymphoma received rituximab-containing regimens with a median of 5 cycles (ranged from 3 to 8 cycles). Of the 34 patients, 2 received rituximab alone, and 32 received rituximab-based regimens, which including CHOP (16 cases), FMD (5 cases), CHOPE (4 cases), EPOCH (2 cases), DICE (2 cases), DAHP (2 cases), and FN (1 case).
Results: Of the 34 patients, 30 were evaluable for objective response. The overall response (OR) rate was 93.3%, and the complete response (CR) rate was 60.0%; the OR rate and CR rate of 22 evaluable naive patients were 95.4% and 66.7%, those of 18 evaluable follicular lymphoma patients were 88.9% and 66.7%. With a median follow-up of 17 months (4-68 months), the 1-year progression-freely survival rate was 85.3%. Myelosuppression was the major adverse event: 19 patients suffered from leukopenia with 4 cases of grade III-IV event, 5 suffered from thrombocytopenia with 4 cases of grade III-IV event, and 2 suffered from febrile neutropenia. Other adverse events included grade I-II nausea/vomiting, mild alopecia, and transient liver function abnormality. The infusional reaction of rituximab consisted of grade I-II rigor/febrile, skin rash, mild hypotension, and asymptomatic ventricular premature beat.
Conclusion: Rituximab-containing chemotherapeutic regimens are effective for indolent B-cell lymphoma with mild toxicity.