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Bone marrow biopsies do not impact response assessment for follicular lymphoma patients treated on clinical trials
Author(s) -
Rutherford Sarah C.,
Li Valery,
Ghione Paola,
Chen Zhengming,
Martin Peter,
Leonard John P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/bjh.14839
Subject(s) - follicular lymphoma , medicine , clinical trial , lymphoma , follicular phase , bone marrow , surgery , oncology , pathology
Summary Clinical trials enrolling follicular lymphoma ( FL ) patients typically require bone marrow biopsies ( BMB s) at baseline and at a subsequent point if complete response is achieved. These procedures are painful, take time and add cost. We hypothesized that BMB s do not provide information significant for response assessment in most follicular lymphoma patients on clinical trials. We identified 99 patients treated on clinical trials for follicular lymphoma between 2000 and 2016. BMB s resulted in a possible response assessment change in 1·0% of patients (95% confidence interval: 0·0–5·5%). We conclude that mandatory BMB s at baseline and for response assessment are unnecessary in clinical trials for follicular lymphoma.