Onkologie. 2009:3(3):158-163

How to treat elderly patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Vít Procházka¹, MUDr. Tomáš Papajík CSc¹, Zuzana Kubová¹, Marek Trněný², MUDr. Ladislava Kučerová³, Miroslav Mysliveček⁴, Karel Indrák¹

¹ Hemato-onkologická klinika FN a LF UP v Olomouci

² I. interní klinika 1. LF UK a VFN Praha

³ Ústav patologie FN a LF UP Olomouc

⁴ Klinika nukleární medicíny FN a LF UP v Olomouci

More than half of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are older than 60 years at the time of diagnosis. Due to comorbidities,

these patients have a lower tolerance of intensive chemotherapy regimens, resulting in poor outcomes, especially in high-risk patients.

Those achieving complete remission, however, have the same chance of disease-free survival as the younger population. By adding

the monoclonal antibody rituximab to the gold standard CHOP chemotherapy, survival of patients has significantly improved without

increasing treatment toxicity. Further improvements in patients’ outlook will not be possible without an emphasis on sufficient dose

intensity of chemotherapy, careful stratification of patients and high-quality supportive treatment. Some patients in very good clinical

conditions may benefit from more intensive therapy with dose-dense regimens or from high-dose therapy with autologous haematopoietic

stem cell transplantation.

Keywords: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, DLBCL, elderly, treatment.

Published: June 15, 2009  Show citation