Long-term results of Waldenström macroglobulinaemia treatment by bendamustine and rituximab: A study on behalf of the French Innovative Leukemia Organization (FILO)

Abstract

The bendamustine–rituximab (BR) schedule is an efficient first-line therapy in Waldenström macroglobulinaemia (WM). A previous analysis of 69 patients who received this treatment confirmed a high response rate and good progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). With a median follow-up of 76.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 69.9–80.6), 5-year outcome is still excellent at 66.63% (95% CI 56.09–79.17) for PFS and 80.01% (95% CI 70.82–90.41) for OS. The rate of secondary cancers is 17.66% (IQR 7.99–27.64) at 66 months. Relapsed patients who received ibrutinib as second-line clearly benefited from this schedule. This confirms current recommendations suggesting BR long-term efficacy as first-line option in WM.