[Long-term clinical outcome of children and adolescents with Burkitt's lymphoma treated with rituximab combined with modified NHL-BFM-90 regimen].

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of rituximab combined with the modified NHL-BFM-90 protocol in childhood and adolescence with Burkitt's lymphoma (BL).

Methods

A retrospective analysis of 67 untreated childhood and adolescence patients with BL was made. All patients were treated with the modified NHL-BFM-90 protocol with or without rituximab.

Results

The 64 patients (95.52%) achieved complete remission (CR), 3 patients (4.48%) partial remission (PR), and the overall response rate (CR+PR) was 100%. 67 patients were followed up for a median of 44 (3-89) months. The 3 and 5-year overall survival (OS) were 92.54% and 88.98%, respectively. The 3 and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) were all 90.34%. The 5-year OS were 100%,91.7% and 80.0% in low risk, moderate risk and high risk group, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.048). Of the 67 patients, 55 patients (82.09%) were treated with rituximab plus chemotherapy. Compared with the 5-year OS and PFS of 74.3% and 78.6% in the chemotherapy group, the 5-year OS and PFS in the rituximab plus chemotherapy group were 95.2% and 95.5%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P value was 0.021, and 0.036, respectively). Major toxicity was myelosuppression and mucositis. No treatment related death was found.

Conclusions

Rituximab combined with the modified NHL-BFM-90 protocol was highly effective for children and adolescents with BL, and significantly improved long-term survival.