Comparison between CHOP-like and R-CHOP in diffuse large B cell and follicular lymphoma

Background: The most common types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are diffuse large B cell (DLBCL) and follicular (FL). Aim: To analyze the benefit of Rituximab in overall survival (OS) of patients with NHL. Material and Methods: Review of medical record of 230 adult patients with a first episode of NHL admitted between 2002 and 2011. We included 67 patients with DLBCL and 36 patients with FL. Results: The overall response (OR) was 64% with 39% complete remissions (CR) in DLBCL treated with CHOP-like and 100% with 89% CR with R-CHOP. The median OS with CHOP-like was 21 months versus not attained R-CHOP (p = 0.016). There was a statistically significant difference in median event-free survival (EvFS) in favor of R-CHOP: not attained versus 8.3 months for CHOP-like (log rank (p = 0.002)). In FL, the OR in patients treated with R-CHOP or R-CHOP-like was 85% with 54% CR. With CHOP-like the OR was 59% with 18% CR. The OS at 24 and 36 months in patients treated with R-CHOP or R-CHOP-like was 83 and 65%. The figures for patients treated with CHOP-like were 80 and 66% respectively. The progression free survival (PFS) was 21 months with CHOP-like versus not attained with R-QT (p = 0,043). Conclusions: When Rituximab was added to CHOP, there was a higher CR, EvFS and OS in DLBCL and higher CR and PFS in FL.