Additional therapy improves outcomes in completely resected, limited-stage follicular lymphoma

Abstract

Patients with early-stage nodal follicular lymphoma (FL) may be rendered free of detectable disease by a diagnostic excisional biopsy. We reviewed the management and outcomes of 48 patients with FL, diagnosed from 2003–2013, treated at a single institution. The primary endpoints were local control (LC) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Median age at diagnosis was 54.5 years (range 15–74 years). Forty-seven patients were stage I (97.9%); 15 patients (31.3%) had grade 3 disease. Initial management consisted of observation (12 patients; 25.0%), radiation therapy (RT) alone (12 patients; 25.0%), systemic therapy alone (9 cases; 18.8%), or both (15 patients; 31.3%). Median follow-up was 4.92 years (range 0.5–13.83 years). 4-year PFS and OS were 80.9% and 97.1%, respectively. Patients treated with additional therapy experienced significantly better 4-year LC (100% vs. 81.8%; p = .012) and 4-year PFS (86.7% vs. 63.6%; p = .006).

Patients with completely resected limited-stage FL would benefit from therapy beyond excisional biopsy alone.

Keywords:

• Early-stage follicular lymphoma
• completely resected nodal follicular lymphoma
• radiation therapy
• nodal follicular lymphoma
• excisional biopsy

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2019.1627535.