Surveillance investigations after high-dose therapy with stem cell rescue for recurrent follicular lymphoma have no impact on management.

Background: The impact of active surveillance, comprising annual computed tomography scanning and bone marrow biopsies, in the follow-up of patients after high-dose therapy with autologous stem cell rescue for recurrent follicular lymphoma was analyzed.

Design And Methods: Seventy-one of 99 patients who received high-dose therapy commenced the surveillance program. Response duration, time to next treatment and overall survival were compared according to whether disease progression had been diagnosed on the basis of surveillance investigations or on clinical grounds.

Results: After a median follow-up of 16 years, progression was documented by surveillance in 16 patients and clinically in 18, the median response duration being 2.4 and 2.3 years, respectively (P=NS). Ten patients with a relapse detected clinically started treatment immediately, contrasting with one patient whose relapse was detected by surveillance investigations. Five patients with relapses detected by surveillance investigations have not required treatment after a median follow-up of 18 years, whereas all but two patients with a relapse detected clinically have been treated. The median time to next treatment was 7 years for patients with a relapse identified by surveillance investigations and 4 years for those whose relapse was manifested clinically (P=0.03). Overall survival was not significantly different between the two groups.

Conclusions: Surveillance investigations, consisting of annual computed tomography scanning and bone marrow biopsies, have no impact on the management of patients with recurrent follicular lymphoma and do not improve the outcome of these patients.