We retrospectively evaluated the clinical features and management of 13 PCNSL patients who were diagnosed and treated between 2006 and 2015.
Nine patients received rituximab (R) 375mg/m2/day on Day 1, methotrexate (MTX) 3.5g/m2/day and cytosine arabinoside (ARA-C) 4.4g/m2/day on Day 2, as well as ARA-C 4.4g/m2/day on Day 3 every 28days, and underwent autologous stem cell transplantation. Two patients received procarbazine instead of ARA-C. One patient relapsed, and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was performed. All nine patients are followed in complete remission. Two of 13 patients received one course of MTX and 36-45Gy radiotherapy and died. One patient with renal transplantation had progressive disease and died. Grade 3-4 hematological toxicity was detected in 11 (85%), Grade 3-4 mucositis in 11 (85%), and febrile neutropenia in 12 (92%) patients. The median overall survival in the R-MTX-ARA-C/procarbazine group was 28±16months.
R-MTX-ARA-C followed by autologous stem cell transplantation seems a promising strategy with high response rates in PCNSL.
Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.