title: Bendamustine with or without rituximab for the treatment of heavily pretreated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients : A multicenter retrospective study on behalf of the Italian Lymphoma Foundation (FIL).
abstract: Bendamustine is an alkylating agent with a nitrogen mustard group and a purine-like benzimidazole group. The aim of this study was to collect all the Italian experiences with this drug in order to evaluate the results in term of response to therapy and toxicities. We analyzed lymphoma patients treated in 24 Italian haematological centres with bendamustine alone or in combination with anti-CD20 antibody. One hundred seventy-five relapsed or refractory lymphoma patients were enrolled. The median age was 69 years (range 26-87). Seventy-nine patients were relapsed, 35 were refractory and 61 presented a progressive disease after partial response. The diagnoses were 60 indolent non-follicular lymphomas, 34 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, 48 follicular lymphomas, 30 mantle cell lymphomas and three peripheral T-cell lymphomas. All patients were evaluable for response: 52 (29%) with complete remission, 72 (43%) with partial response with an overall response rate of 71%, and 51 non-responders. With a median observation period of 10 months (1-43), 70% of patients are alive. In summary, this retrospective study shows that treatment with bendamustine alone or in combination with rituximab is a safe and effective regimen in a subset of multi-resistant patients.
authors.affiliation: SOD Ematologia, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy. luigi.rigacci@unifi.it
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigacci
authors.forename: Benedetta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Puccini
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cortelazzo
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaidano
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piccin
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Arco
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Freilone
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Storti
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Orciuolo
authors.forename: Pier Luigi
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Zinzani
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zaja
authors.forename: Velia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bongarzoni
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balzarotti
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rota-Scalabrini
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patti
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gobbi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carpaneto
authors.forename: Anna Marina
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Liberati
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosi
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iannitto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069461:Bendamustine Hydrochloride; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D005582:Foundations; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000458:organization & administration; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009588:Nitrogen Mustard Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000069283:Rituximab; D012955:Societies, Medical; D016019:Survival Analysis; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D009588:Nitrogen Mustard Compounds; D000069283:Rituximab; D000069461:Bendamustine Hydrochloride