BMSEHA15
Published online 27 January 2010
(Haematologica 2010, 10.3324/haematol.2009.020115)
Copyright © 2010 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
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Article

Surveillance investigations after high-dose therapy with stem cell rescue for recurrent follicular lymphoma have no impact on management

Marco Gerlinger, Ama Z.S. Rohatiner, Janet Matthews, Andrew Davies, T. Andrew Lister, Silvia Montoto

CR-UK Medical Oncology Unit, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK

Correspondence: Silvia Montoto, CR-UK Medical Oncology Unit, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry 45 Little Britain, EC1A 7BE. London, United Kingdom. Phone: international (44) 20 7601 7456. Fax: international (44) 20 7796 3979 E-mail: s.montoto{at}qmul.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

Background: The impact of active surveillance, comprising an annual CT scan and bone marrow biopsies, in the follow-up of patients after high-dose therapy (HDT) with autologous stem cell rescue for recurrent follicular lymphoma was analyzed.

Design and Methods: Seventy-one of 99 patients who received HDT commenced on the surveillance program. Response duration, time-to-next-treatment and overall survival (OS) were compared, according to whether disease progression had been diagnosed on the basis of surveillance investigations or clinical grounds.

Results: After a median follow-up of 16 years, progression was documented by surveillance in 16 patients and clinically in 18, the median response duration being 2.4 and 2.3 years, respectively (p=NS). Ten patients with a clinical relapse started treatment immediately contrasting with one patient who had a surveillance relapse. Five patients with relapses on surveillance investigations have not required treatment after a median follow-up of 18 years, whereas all but 2 patients with a clinical relapse have been treated. The median time-to-next-treatment was 7 years for patients with a surveillance relapse and 4 years for those with a clinical relapse (p=0.03). OS was not significantly different.

Conclusions: Surveillance investigations have no impact on management and do not improve the outcome of this population.