Successful long-term monotherapy with rituximab in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage: a case report

Treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage is strongly based upon clinical staging because of the heterogeneous clinical course of this disease. We describe a 62-year-old patient with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage who did not respond to sever...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical case reports 2008-08, Vol.2 (1), p.275-275, Article 275
Main Authors: Sturm, Isrid, Oertel, Joachim, Oertel, Stephan, Westermann, Jörg, Pezzutto, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case Report
Case studies
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Diagnosis
Drug therapy
Patient outcomes
Risk factors
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Summary:Treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage is strongly based upon clinical staging because of the heterogeneous clinical course of this disease. We describe a 62-year-old patient with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage who did not respond to several chemotherapy regimens including chlorambucil, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide, developing a marked neutropenia and thrombocytopenia with life-threatening infections. Further chemotherapy appeared not feasible because of bone marrow toxicity. The patient was treated with 600 mg/m2 rituximab weekly followed by eight courses of biweekly therapy and then by long-term maintenance therapy, achieving almost complete remission of the symptoms and disease control. After resistance to standard chemotherapy with chlorambucil and fludarabine, a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia of the B-cell-lineage was successfully treated with rituximab.
ISSN:1752-1947
1752-1947
DOI:10.1186/1752-1947-2-275