No abstract

Severe retroperitoneal hemorrhage represents an infrequent and serious complication of bone marrow biopsy. A 53-year-old man, diagnosed with polycythemia vera 12 years earlier, was submitted to a bone marrow biopsy due to the appearance of anemia with clinical and hematological features suggesting myelofibrotic transformation, a diagnosis that was confirmed by the marrow study. At 2 h of a right anterior iliac bone marrow trephine biopsy, the patient suddenly developed severe pain in the area of the biopsy, with antialgic flexion of the right leg. Computed tomographic (CT) scan of the abdomen showed a 5 x 9.5 cm hematoma in the right iliac and psoas muscles. The patient was initially managed with analgesics and transfusional support, but the pain persisted and a continuous fall in the hematocrit was observed in the following days. Angiographic examination of the right external iliac artery showed contrast extravasation arising from the circumflex iliac branch, which was embolized using polivinyl alcohol particles and one coil. Following such procedure, the patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged in good condition a few days later. This case illustrates the effectiveness of an endovascular approach in providing a fast and minimally invasive treatment for this life-threatening complication of bone marrow trephine biopsy.

The use of immunochemotherapy has improved the outcome of follicular lymphoma (FL). Recently, complete response at 30 months (CR30) has been suggested as a surrogate for progression-free survival. This study aimed to analyse the life expectancy of FL patients according to their status at 30 months from the start of treatment in comparison with the sex and age-matched Spanish general population (relative survival; RS). The training series comprised 263 patients consecutively diagnosed with FL in a 10year period who needed therapy and were treated with rituximab-containing regimens. An independent cohort of 693 FL patients from the Grupo Español de Linfomas y Trasplante Aut ologo de M edula Osea (GELTAMO) group was used for validation. In the training cohort, 188 patients were in CR30, with a 10-year overall survival (OS) of 53% and 87% for non-CR30 and CR30 patients, respectively. Ten-year RS was 73% and 100%, showing no decrease in life expectancy for CR30 patients. Multivariate analysis indicated that the FL International Prognostic Index was the most important variable predicting OS in the CR30 group. The impact of CR30 status on RS was validated in the independent GELTAMO series. In conclusion, FL patients treated with immunochemotherapy who were in CR at 30 months showed similar survival to a sex-and age-matched Spanish general population.

No abstract

Patients with FL can have long time of survival, but disease progression typically occurs 3-5 years after initial treatment. Consolidation with Z after initial therapy has shown to improve progression-free survival (PFS) mainly in the pre-R era, whereas maintenance with R also has demonstrated a substantial benefit in terms of PFS in patients treated with immunochemotherapy. In this setting, the Spanish intergroup PETHEMA/GELTAMO/GELCAB started a randomized phase 2 trial in order to compare the use of consolidation with Z vs. R maintenance in patients with FL responding to R-CHOP. From June 2008 to July 2010, 146 patients (66M/80F; median age, 55 years) were enrolled from 25 Spanish institutions in the randomized phase 2 trial ZAR2007 (ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00662948). Main inclusion criteria were: FL grade 1, 2 or 3a, age 18-75 years, stages II-IV and need of treatment according to modified GELF criteria. Patients with FL grade 3b or transformed to DLBCL were excluded. In addition, patients with platelet count <150x109/L or bone marrow infiltration>25% before randomization were also excluded. Main end-point of the trial was PFS from randomization. The distribution according to the FLIPI score was as follows: low-risk 14%, intermediate 47%, and high 39%. After R-CHOP, 124 patients in CR (n=56), CR[u] (13) or PR (55) were randomized 1:1 (stratified by response) to arm A (90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan 0.4 mCi/kg IV; total dose of 90Y was capped at 32 mCi) vs. arm B (1 infusion of R 375 mg/m2 every 8 weeks for 2 years). Sixty three (51%) patients were assigned to arm A (Z) and 61 (49%) to arm B (R). Twenty two patients were not randomized due to response <PR, low neutrophil or platelets counts or patient decision. After a median follow-up of 37 months from randomization (range, 26 to 56), 31 patients eventually progressed/relapsed with a 36-month PFS of 64% (95% confidence interval [CI] 52-76) for patients in arm A (consolidation with Z) (22 events) and 86% (95% CI 77-95) for patients in the R maintenance (9 events) (p=0.01; HR=0.38, 95%CI 0.17-0.83) as shown in the figure. The number of patients in PR after R-CHOP who reached CR during maintenance were 14 of 28 (50%) and 12 of 26 (46%) for arms A and B, respectively. Two patients developed transformation to DLBCL at 8 (arm A) and 39 months (arm B) after randomization. During the maintenance period, patients receiving Z showed grade 3-4 neutropenia in 6 of 63 cases and grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia in 5 of 63, whereas these figures were 1 of 61 and 0 of 61 (p=0.05) for patients in arm B, respectively. No unexpected late toxicities have been reported. Five patients have died during the follow-up due to the progression of lymphoma in all cases, with no differences between the arms (36-month OS, 98% vs. 95% for arms A and B, respectively). In conclusion, in patients with FL in response after R-CHOP, maintenance with R was superior to consolidation with Z in terms of PFS, with no differences in OS with the current follow-up. Disclosures: Lopez-Guillermo: Roche: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees. Briones:F. Hoffmann-La Roche: Honoraria.