Increased toxicities in children with Burkitt lymphoma treated with
Rituximab -- Experience from a tertiary cancer centre In India
Abstract
Background: Even though rituximab has emerged as the standard of care
for management of high risk paediatric burkitt lymphoma(BL) its safety
in children from the low-middle income countries(LMICs) remains to be
proven. We herein report our experience of using rituximab in patients
with BL treated in our institute. Patients and Methods: All patients
diagnosed of BL between January-2015 through December-2017 were treated
in a risk stratified manner with either modified MCP-842 or modified LMB
protocol. Patients with poor response to MCP 842 were shifted to
LMB-salvage regimen. In addition, rituximab was given for selected
patients of LMB group B or C. Result: Forty-two(49.4%) of 85 analyzed
patients with BL received rituximab [Median dose:1500(Range:375-1875)
mg/m2]. The incidence of febrile neutropenia(p=0.02),
pneumonia(p=0.005), Intensive care unit admissions(p=0.002) and toxic
deaths(p=0.04) were higher amongst BL patients who received rituximab.
Pneumonia was fatal in 11 of 16(69%) patients who received rituximab.
The mortality was 100% for patients who developed recurrent pneumonia
after completion of treatment. On multivariate analysis, rituximab
continued to be significantly associated with toxic deaths,
HR:11.45(95%CI: 1.87-70.07; p=0.008). The addition of rituximab to
intensive chemotherapy resulted in an inferior 1-year event free
survival (49.4±8.1% vs 79.3±6.5%;p=0.025) and 1-year overall survival
(63.1±8.5% vs 91.8± 4.5%;p=0.007). Also, the addition of rituximab did
not improve 1-year relapse free survival (78.3±7.3% vs
83.9±6.0%;p=0.817). Conclusion: The potential immunomodulatory effect
of rituximab and increased susceptibility to infections in patients from
LMICs being treated under resource-constrained situations has to be
carefully considered while choosing this drug in the treatment BL.