Impact of Reduced Dose Intensity for Elderly Patients with Diffuse Large B-CELL Lymphoma Receiving R-CHOP Every 14 or 21 Days: An Analysis of the LNH03–6B GELA Study.

Elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) frequently receive reduced dose-intensity (DI) chemotherapy (Lyman GH et al. J Clin Oncol 2004) but impact on outcome in the era of classical or dose-dense immunochemotherapy is unknown. Final results of the LNH03–6B did not show any difference in PFS (HR: 0.99 [95%CI: 0.78–1.26]; p=0.90) and OS (HR: 0.96 [95%CI: 0.73–1.26]; p=0.75) between R-CHOP14 and R-CHOP21 (Delarue et al. ASCO 2012).

Patients between 60 and 80 years old with DLBCL and aaIPI≥1 were eligible. They were randomized between R-CHOP14 and R-CHOP21 for 8 cycles. Dose-intensity (DI) was calculated for all patients for cyclophosphamide (CPM), doxorubicin (DOX) and rituximab (RTX) and patients were separated into 4 quartiles for each of these drugs. Outcome (PFS and OS) according to final DI was evaluated for all patients and in R-CHOP14 and R-CHOP21 arms.

602 pts were randomized, 600 were evaluable, 304 with R-CHOP14 and 296 with R-CHOP21. Median age was 70 years. Patient characteristics were similar in both arms. The percentage of cycles administered with G-CSF was 89% in R-CHOP14 and 66% in R-CHOP21. Median interval between 2 cycles was 14 d [9–94] in R-CHOP14 arm and 21 d [15–66] in R-CHOP21 arm. Median dose-intensity was 88% in R-CHOP14 and 97% in R-CHOP21 for CPM, and 88% in R-CHOP14 and 96% for R-CHOP21 for DOX. There was no difference of median dose-intensity for CPM and DOX according to G-CSF use at C1 in R-CHOP14 arm. In the R-CHOP14 arm, the increase of DI at the end of treatment, calculated according to 3-week interval as a reference, was 133% for CPM and DOX. When separating patients in 4 quartiles according to final dose intensity, there was no impact for CPM, DOX and RTX for the entire cohort in term of PFS and OS. Moreover, decreased DI for CPM, DOX and RTX did not impact negatively PFS and OS in patients randomized in the R-CHOP14 arm. On the other hand, for patients included in the R-CHOP21 arm, PFS was negatively impacted by lower DI of CPM (p=0.02), DOX (p=0.007) and RTX (p=0.006). OS was also negatively impacted by lower DI of CPM (p=0.0002), DOX (p<0.00001) and RTX (p<0.0001). In the R-CHOP21 arm, the negative impact was pronouncedly marked when comparing patients in the first and the second quartiles with those in the fourth quartile.

While low DI has a major impact on PFS and OS in patients who receive conventional dose immunochemotherapy, consequences for patients receiving dose-dense immunochemotherapy seem less pronounced. As a consequence, immunochemotherapy could be safely decreased for elderly patients who receive R-CHOP14 and experienced adverse events.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.