BACKGROUND
Patients with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) can present with complex clinical scenarios and a variety of clinical features including indolent disease, standard disease, and disease with aggressive phenotypes. This interview series discusses exciting developments in therapeutic options for patients with NHL in the first-line and relapsed/refractory settings.
In this segment the following questions were posed by Dr Bruce Cheson:
Questions
1. Outcomes seem to be improving for patients with follicular lymphoma, especially with the incorporation of biological agents into first-line chemotherapy. Dr. Dreyling, could you summarize for us the data that supports the role of rituximab in the first-line setting?
2. Current standards of care for first-line therapy include R-CHOP, R-CVP or R-FCM. What criteria do you use to choose between the various options?
3. Many of us are asking how the entry of bendamustine into the first-line setting changes the playing field for previously untreated patients. Bendamustine plus rituximab is now recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines as an option in the first-line setting, especially for older patients. Dr. Rummel, what do recent trial findings tell us about the benefit of this combination in the first-line setting?
Mundipharma had no editorial input into this series.
