Bendamustine for Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia – pro
Bendamustine has been studied in groups of patients with a variety of low grade lymphomas. In aggregate these studies suggest that it may produce responses. Unfortunately, followup studies are mostly case and series reports and not comparative studies of treatment. Treon et al, for example, reported an overall response rate in 30 patients with Wa;denstroms to be 83.3%, with 5 VGPR and 20 PR. The median estimated progression-free survival for all patients was 13.2 months. Overall therapy was well tolerated. Prolonged myelosuppression was more common in patients who received prior nucleoside analogues.He concluded that bendamustine is active and produces durable responses in previously treated WM, both as monotherapy and with CD20-directed monoclonal antibodies. NCCN on WMLPL-B listst bendamustine with or without rituximab.
NCCN, Waldenstrom, WMLPL-B, 2014
P. Moreau et al, Multiple myeloma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines, for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Annals of Oncology : 15, 2013
Treon SP1, Hanzis C, Tripsas C, Ioakimidis L, Patterson CJ, Manning RJ, Sheehy P.Bendamustine therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory Waldenstrm’s macroglobulinemia. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2011 Feb;11(1):133-5.
Irene M. Ghobrial, Choice of Therapy for Patients With Waldenstrm Macroglobulinemia JCO January 20, 2013 vol. 31 no. 3 291-293
Rummel MR, Niederle N, Maschmeyer G, et al: Bendamustine plus rituximab versus CHOP plus rituximab as first-line treatment in patients with indolent and mantle cell lymphomas: Updated results from the StiL NHL1 study. 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. Abstract 3. Presented June 3, 2012.