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Despite the long history of bendamustine as treatment for indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, long-term efficacy and toxicity data are minimal. We reviewed long-term data from three clinical trials to characterize the toxicity and efficacy of patients receiving bendamustine. Data were available for 149 subjects at 21 sites. The median age was 60 years at the start of bendamustine (range 39-84), and patients had received a median of 3 prior therapies. The histologies included grades 1-2 follicular lymphoma (FL; n = 73), grade 3 FL (n = 23), small lymphocytic lymphoma (n = 20), marginal zone lymphoma (n = 15), mantle cell lymphoma (n = 9), transformed lymphomas (n = 5), lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (n = 2) and not reported (n = 2). The median event-free survival was 14·1 months. Nine of 12 attempted stem cell collections were successful. With a median follow-up of 8·9 years, 23 patients developed 25 cancers, including 8 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukaemia. These data provide important information regarding the long-term toxicity of bendamustine in previously treated patients. A small but meaningful number of patients achieved durable remissions following bendamustine. These rigorously collected, patient-level, long-term follow-up data provide reassurance that bendamustine or bendamustine plus rituximab is associated with efficacy and safety for patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Original publication

DOI

10.1111/bjh.14667

Type

Journal article

Journal

Br J Haematol

Publication Date

07/2017

Volume

178

Pages

250 - 256

Keywords

chemotherapy, haemotoxicity, lymphomas, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating, Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols, Bendamustine Hydrochloride, Clinical Trials as Topic, Disease-Free Survival, Female, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization, Humans, Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute, Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin, Male, Middle Aged, Multicenter Studies as Topic, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Neoplasms, Second Primary, Rituximab, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome