Liposomal Doxorubicin in Aggressive B Cell Lymphoma Has Similar Efficacy to the Conventional Formulation: Results from a Retrospective Cohort Study

Introduction: Anthracyclines plays a key role in the treatment of Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). There is a great concern about its cardiotoxicity, especially among elderly patients with raising age and related morbidities. Liposomal doxorubicin (LD) has proven to be efficacious and less cardiotoxic in combinations of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy regimes through phase II and III studies in breast cancer. There are some phase II studies in DLBCL but to our knowledge, controlled randomized studies are pending. Aim: To analyze the efficacy and toxicity of LD (Myocet¨) in DLBCL patients with cardiovascular/cardiopathy risk, in comparison with a control population who received the standard therapy during the same period of time. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in patients with de novo DLBCL treated with standard immunochemotherapy, comparing conventional Doxorubicin vs LD. Selection of a 3.3 vs 1 ratio was used to increase statistic power. Criteria to indicate LD therapy were any of the following: left heart ejection fraction Results: 78 patients (pts) treated between March 2006 and June 2012 were selected: 60 pts in the control group (group A) and 18 in the study arm (group B). Their characteristics are shown in table 1. Homogeneity was observed, except in LVEF Conclusion: In this study, the association of LD to immunochemotherapy showed the same efficacy as conventional Doxorubicin in fragile patients, without increased toxicity. Acknowledgement:We are grateful to TEVA for their contribution with the CRO for the statistical analysis. Disclosures Alegre:Celgene Corporation: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.