title: Immunochemotherapy for primary central nervous system lymphoma with rituximab, methotrexate, cytarabine and dexamethasone: Retrospective analysis of 18 cases.
abstract: The incidence of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has increased in the last two decades and the clinical research regarding the treatment for PCNSL patients has also increased. However, the optimal induction chemotherapy has not been fully established. In the present retrospective study, the aim was to analyze the outcome in PCNSL patients treated with the combination of rituximab, methotrexate (MTX), cytarabine (Ara-C) and dexamethasone (R-MAD). Eighteen patients from Beijing Tiantan Hospital (Beijing, China) between January 2010 and March 2014 were newly diagnosed with PCNSL [diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) type] and received R-MAD as first-line treatment. The dosage was as follows: 375 mg/m2rituximab was administered on day 0, 3.5 g/m2MTX was administered on day 1, 1 g/m2Ara-C was administered on day 2 and 10 mg dexamethasone was administered on days 1-3, every 3 weeks. After 6 cycles, the overall response rate was 94.5%. Ten (55.6%) patients achieved complete response (CR), 7 (38.9%) achieved partial response (PR) and 1 (5.6%) had progressive disease (PD). Patients were followed up from the start of the treatment, median 24.2 months (range 6-48). The overall survival (OS) rate was 94.5% and progression-free survival rate was 94.5%. The median OS was 22 months (95% confidence interval, 19.4-24.6). The high level of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentration was associated with a poor outcome. Among 5 patients with an abnormally high LDH concentration, 1 achieved CR, 3 had PR and 1 had PD. None of the patients experienced any grade 4 toxicity. These results indicated that the R-MAD immunochemotherapy regimen is effective in PCNSL patients without serious toxicity. A prospective investigation with more patients should be administered in order to understand the more accurate effect of the regimen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xue-Fei
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xue-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Q U
authors.initials: QU
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yue-Dan
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Navy General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100048, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Bo
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: immunochemotherapy; primary central nervous system lymphoma; retrospective analysis; rituximab; serum lactate dehydrogenase