Clinical Outcomes of Early-progressed Follicular Lymphoma in Korea : A Multicenter, Retrospective Analysis

Follicular lymphoma is the second most common non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Western countries, but it is relatively less frequent in Asia. As a result, the prognosis and treatment status in Korean patients with follicular lymphoma have been rarely studied.

With the recent addition of monoclonal antibodies targeting CD20 into existing cytotoxic chemotherapy, the overall life expectancy of patients with follicular lymphoma has improved a lot. However, nearly 20% of these patients experience early worsening of disease within the first 24 months of treatment, followed by poor prognosis. Since patients with early relapse within 24 months usually experience worsening of disease during treatment with rituximab combined with chemotherapy or during rituximab maintenance therapy, optimal treatment for such patients is unknown, but remission induction therapy followed by stem cell transplantation, bendamustine combined with obinutuzumab, PI3K inhibitors, and lenalidomide are possible options. However, most of these drugs are limited for use in Korea, and there is little information with regard to treatment guidelines for patients with early relapsed follicular lymphoma or their treatment outcome in Korea.

This retrospective study was proposed by the investigators to analyze treatment status and outcome in patients with early relapsed follicular lymphoma. This study will provide basic data for follicular lymphoma study in Korea and for future clinical trial design.