Figure 1.
Prognostic impact of corticosteroid use on PFS and OS. Association between use of (A,E) corticosteroids, (B,F) cumulative corticosteroid dose, (C,G) duration, and (D,H) timing and (A-D) PFS and (E-H) OS in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma treated with axi-cel. No significant difference in complete response rate was observed based on corticosteroid use, dose, duration, and timing. The association between use of higher cumulative dose of corticosteroids and shorter PFS was maintained when limiting the analysis to the 43 patients with high-grade ICANS (P = .05). The association between higher cumulative dose (P = .04) and shorter OS was maintained when limiting the analysis to the 43 patients with high-grade ICANS. Only 2 patients died of infectious complications. Quartiles for cumulative dexamethasone-equivalent dose: first quartile (Q1), 8-116 mg; second quartile (Q2), 118-186 mg; third quartile (Q3), 195-390 mg; and fourth quartile (Q4), 440-1083 mg. Quartiles for duration of corticosteroid use: Q1, 1-6 days; Q2, 7-9 days; Q3, 10-14 days; and Q4, 15-30 days. CS, corticosteroid; m, median. Analyzing the data by treating LDH as a continuous variable did not show any significant differences in the LDH levels based on corticosteroid use (P = .21), dose (P = .22), duration (P = .09), or timing (P = .07).