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Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on October 3, 2008
Annals of Oncology 2009 20(2):326-330; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdn636
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

hematologic malignancies

Rituximab monotherapy for primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma: response and follow-up in 16 patients

J. Valencak1, F. Weihsengruber2, K. Rappersberger2, F. Trautinger3, A. Chott4, B. Streubel5, L. Muellauer5, M. Der-Petrossian1, C. Jonak1, M. Binder1 and M. Raderer6,*

1 Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna
2 Department of Dermatology, Rudolfstiftung Hospital, Vienna
3 Karl-Landsteiner-Institute for Dermatological Research, Landesklinikum St Pölten, St Pölten
4 Department of Pathology, Wilhelminen Hospital
5 Department of Clinical Pathology, Medical University of Vienna
6 Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

* Correspondence to: Dr M. Raderer, Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Wien, Austria. Tel/Fax: +43-1-40400-2296; E-mail: markus.raderer{at}meduniwien.ac.at

Background: We have carried out a retrospective analysis to evaluate the therapeutic value of the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in 16 consecutive patients with primary cutaneous CD20+ B-cell lymphomas.

Patients and methods: Sixteen patients (4 females, 12 males) with a median age of 54 years received systemic therapy with rituximab 375 mg/m2 once weekly for four or six consecutive weeks. Eleven patients had primary cutaneous follicle center cell lymphoma and five patients had a primary cutaneous marginal zone B-cell lymphoma.

Results: Of the 16 patients with PCBCL, 14 patients (87.5%) achieved complete remission (CR). In two patients, partial remission was obtained and additional focal radiotherapy was applied, which resulted in final CR. Five to 14 (35%) patients with CR relapsed, in an interval between 6 and 37 months. There were no severe side-effects.

Conclusions: On the basis of our results, single-agent treatment with i.v. rituximab appears to be feasible and safe and results in a high rate of durable remissions. Judging from our data, it appears to be an attractive treatment option and should be directly compared with local radiotherapy.

Key words: cutaneous B-cell lymphoma, rituximab, systemic treatment

Received for publication July 16, 2008. Revision received August 14, 2008. Accepted for publication August 18, 2008.


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