Superior quality and duration of responses among patients with mantle-cell lymphoma treated with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide with or without rituximab compared with prior responses to CHOP

Abstract

Sixteen patients with relapsed mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) were treated with the combination of fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) with or without rituximab. All patients had received prior CHOP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, prednisone) chemotherapy, with a response rate of 63.5% (25% complete response), and a median duration of response of 10 months (range 1 - 32 months). Subsequent treatment with FC ± rituximab produced a response rate of 75% with a higher complete response rate (56% P= 0.07 vs. CHOP), and a median duration of response of 11 months (4 - 25 + months). This study demonstrates that FC is a highly active regimen in patients relapsing following CHOP chemotherap..