Characterization of treatment and outcomes in a population-based cohort of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia referred for cytogenetic testing in British Columbia, Canada.
| Authors | Steven J Huang, Lauren J Lee, Alina S Gerrie, Tanya L Gillan, Helene Bruyere, Monica Hrynchak, Adam C Smith, Aly Karsan, Khaled M Ramadan, Kavisha S Jayasundara & Cynthia L Toze |
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| Abstract | This study evaluates outcomes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) based on first-line therapy in a large consecutive population-based cohort of 669 patients with fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) data in British Columbia, Canada during the period when chemoimmunotherapy was standard first-line treatment. When analyzed as a time-dependent variable, patients who required treatment (n=336) had a 4.7 times higher hazard of death than patients who did not (95% confidence interval 2.8-7.9, P<0.001). The majority of patients received fludarabine-rituximab (FR) in front-line. On multivariate Cox regression analysis, fludarabine-based first-line therapy predicted longer time-to-next-treatment (TTNT) (HR 0.53, 95% confidence interval 0.33-0.87, P=0.012) but no difference in overall survival (OS) compared to alkylator-based therapy. Deletion 17p was an independent predictor of worse TTNT and OS. The most common second-line treatments were cyclophosphamide-vincristine-prednisone-rituximab and FR. There was no difference in OS between patients retreated in second-line with the same first-line regimen (n=33) versus different regimen (n=113). In conclusion, front-line treatment with fludarabine leads to a longer time until need for next treatment than alkylator-based therapy; however, fludarabine or alkylator therapy produces no difference in OS. This study provides a historical baseline for the comparison of novel agents with standard treatments in CLL on a population-level. |
| Journal Name and Citation | Leukemia Research Volume:55 Issue: Pages:79-90 |
| Date of Publication | 2017/01/15 |
| Publication Link | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145212617300231 |