For older patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), first-line rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) administration was linked with longer overall survival compared with second-line R CHOP, according to a study published in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia. Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MS, and colleagues analyzed 675 patients (aged 65 and older) newly diagnosed with FL from 2000-2009 who received R-CHOP. Using Kaplan-Meier curves, they assessed restricted mean survival time propensity scores (PS) and regression models comparing patients who received first- versus second-line R-CHOP. Patients who received first-line R-CHOP had notably longer 9-year restricted mean survival time (RMST) than those who received second line R-CHOP. Using linear regression models, subgroup analyses showed that the 9-year RMST of patients who received first-line R-CHOP was longer in patients aged 80 and older and with histological grade 1 or 2, compared with those who received second-line R-CHOP.
