Treatment of Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma in Community Settings

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) represent a rare and heterogeneous group of malignancies that do not have consensus treatment recommendations. This retrospective review of 93 patients treated in community settings demonstrated considerable variability in treatment strategies. First-line CHOP and CHOP-like regimens were used in 74% of patients, providing 4-year overall survival outcomes of 34% in patients without transplant consolidation and 77% with transplantation. Background Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) represent a rare and heterogeneous group of malignancies that do not have consensus treatment recommendations. Strategies extrapolated from B-cell lymphoma have met with limited efficacy, although T-cell–specific salvage therapies have been recently developed. Methods To determine treatment patterns and associated outcomes in PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS), anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma (ALCL), and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), a retrospective analysis was undertaken at a large US community oncology network among patients treated between January 2010 and April 2015. Results Among 93 patients (44 PTCL-NOS, 30 ALCL, 19 AITL), 23 unique treatments were used in 66 first-line patients and 12 unique second-line treatments were used in 24 relapsed/refractory patients. First-line CHOP and CHOP-like regimens were used in 74% of patients, providing 4-year overall survival (OS) outcomes of 34% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14%-83%) in patients without transplant consolidation (82% in ALCL, 37% in PTCL-NOS, and 0% in AITL). Upfront stem cell transplantation trended toward improved 4-year progression-free survival 77% (95% CI, 54%-100%) versus 34% (95% CI, 14%-80%); (P = .08; hazard ratio [HR] 0.29) with 4-year OS 77% (95% CI, 54%-100%) versus 34% (P = .22; HR 0.41). Brentuximab was the most common second-line therapy, with multiple additional regimens used in sequence (up to 5 salvage regimens) in many. Conclusions The significant variability in treatments used for PTCL emphasizes the lack of consensus therapy in this rarer lymphoma and calls for additional organized prospective and registry studies to evaluate comparative effectiveness.