Maintenance therapy for low-grade lymphomas: has the time come?

Abstract

Rituximab maintenance therapy has demonstrated an impact on survival in patients with follicular lymphoma. These data justify recommending rituximab maintenance for patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma. Further trials are needed to determine its efficacy in first-line follicular lymphoma and other histological subtypes. The optimal schedule of maintenance therapy has not been established. Although these trials did not report severe adverse drug reactions, information concerning long-term toxicity is scarce, and careful monitoring of patients is therefore recommended.

Rationale for Consolidation to Improve Progression-Free Survival in Patients with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: A Review of the Evidence

“…Maintenance treatment is a long-term approach to delay relapse by stabilizing the best response to initial therapy. Because maintenance therapy is administered over a prolonged period of time, it must be well tolerated and cost-effective to be considered as a valid treatment strategy [2][3][4].…”