Impact of rituximab maintenance and maintenance schedule on prognosis in first-line treatment of follicular lymphoma. Retrospective analysis from Czech Lymphoma Study Group (CLSG) database.

Rituximab maintenance (RM) improves time to progression (PFS) in advanced follicular lymphoma (FL), but the impact of various RM schedules remains unknown. This study performed a retrospective evaluation of RM given for up to 2 years vs observation in 319 untreated FL patients (stage II-IV; grade 1-3A) responding to RCHOP induction and a comparison of two different RM schedules (RM8=eight doses given every 3 months and RM12=12 doses given every 2 months). A total of 183 patients received RM and 136 patients were observed; 5-year PFS was better in the RM arm, 74.1% vs 52.3% (p<0.001), which was projected in 5-year OS 93.8% vs 87.5% (p=0.005). However, 5-year PFS was similar in both the RM8 (n=54) and RM12 (n=56) arms. In the first line, RM significantly prolongs PFS and OS in FL, but different RM schedules bring a similar benefit.