Efficacy and infection morbidity of front‐line immuno‐chemotherapy in follicular lymphoma

Infection risk and antimicrobial prophylaxis in bendamustine‐treated patients with indolent non‐Hodgkin lymphoma: An Australasian Lymphoma Alliance study

“…Maintenance anti‐CD20 was not commonly prescribed (21%), likely due to the lack of public funding for maintenance in Australia during the study period. This may impact the generalisability of our findings, noting, however, that maintenance use was comparable in recent similar studies from the United States, 12,16 but was significantly higher at 46% in a recent UK study 32…”

“…11 Infection incidence with bendamustine varies in smaller real-world studies, ranging from 34% to 63%. [12][13][14][15][16] The risk of OI is even less well documented, though small case series suggest a possible increased risk of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) 17,18 and viral reactivation (e.g. cytomegalovirus [CMV], varicella zoster virus [VZV], herpes zoster virus [HSV]).…”

“…Population based analyses have, however, demonstrated conflicting results, with some suggesting increased infection risk with bendamustine compared with CHOP/CVP 10 and others reporting no difference 11 . Infection incidence with bendamustine varies in smaller real‐world studies, ranging from 34% to 63% 12–16 . The risk of OI is even less well documented, though small case series suggest a possible increased risk of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) 17,18 and viral reactivation (e.g.…”

Correspondence in reference to previously published manuscript: “Faouzi Djebbari et al. Efficacy and infection morbidity of front‐line immuno‐chemotherapy in follicular lymphoma. Eur J Haematol. 2020; 105: 667‐671”

“…2 We read with great interest Djebbari et al's study in the July 2020 issue number 5 of European Journal of Haematology. 3 This retrospective study assessed 3-year infection morbidity of newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma (FL) patients treated with immunochemotherapy regimens, including anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), that is, rituximab (R) or obinutuzumab (O) plus bendamustine (BR [n = 32] and OB [n = 9], respectively) eventually followed by anti-CD20 mAb maintenance (in 31 of them) in the 2009-2019 period in the Oxford's Tertiary Haematology Center of UK. Overall, 26/41 patients (63%) experienced at least one infection of grade ≥1 with a total of 23 episodes of high-grade documented infections.…”