Dr. Lugtenburg on Maintenance Rituximab in DLBCL

Pieternella J. Lugtenburg, MD, PhD, an internist and hematologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rottenham, Netherlands, discusses the use of rituximab (Rituxan) as maintenance therapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Options are expanding for patients with DLBCL, however discovering therapies to extend survival for those patients who achieve complete remission (CR) remains a challenge with 40% of patients still having relapsed or refractory disease after rituximab is added to CHOP, says Lugtenburg.

In the second randomization of a phase II study, investigators evaluated rituximab as maintenance therapy versus observation for patients who achieved CR after R-CHOP. At median follow up of 79.9 months, the 5‐year DFS rate was 79% with rituximab maintenance versus 74% with observation (HR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.57‐1.19; P = 0.31), showing no statistically significant benefit with rituximab. Investigators could not identify another subgroup of patients who benefitted from maintenance therapy in the study, Lugtenberg concludes.

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