Treatment strategies for nodal and gastrointestinal follicular lymphoma: Current status and future development

Table 3 Results of different randomized trials comparing chemotherapy with chemotherapy plus rituximab in relapsed or refractory follicular lymphomas

Study	No. of patients, target disease	Median age (yr)	Complete response rate	End point
				Median progression-free survival	Overall survival
GLSG[43]	n = 65, relapsed FL		P = 0.011a	P = 0.0139a	P = 0.0943 (not significant)
R-FCM	n = 35	60	94%	Near 36 mo	90% (at 2 yr)
FCM	n = 30	59.5	70%	21 mo	70% (at 2 yr)
EORTC, HOVON, NCIC, CTG, BNLI, ALLG, NLG and EORTC Data Center-multicenter study[44]	n = 465, relapsed/resistant FL		P < 0.001b	P < 0.001b	P = 0.096 (not significant)
R-CHOP	n = 234	54	29.5%	33.1 mo	82.5% (at 3 yr)
CHOP	n = 231	55	15.6%	20.2 mo	71.9% (at 3 yr)

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01, statistically significant. GLSG: German Low-Grade Lymphoma Study Group; FL: Follicular lymphoma; EORTC: European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer; HOVON: Hemato-Oncologie voor Volwassenen Nederland; NCIC: National Cancer Institute of Canada; CTG: Clinical Trial Group (Canada); BNLI: British National Lymphoma Investigation; ALLG: Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group; NLG: Nordic Lymphoma Group; (R-)CHOP: (Rituximab plus) cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone; (R-)FCM: (Rituximab plus) fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone.