Brentuximab vedotin in relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma. The Hellenic experience.
Maria K Angelopoulou, Theodoros P Vassilakopoulos, Ioannis Batsis, Ioanna Sakellari, Konstantinos Gkirkas, Vasiliki Pappa, Panagiota Giannoulia, Ioannis Apostolidis, Christos Apostolopoulos, Paraskevi Roussou, Panayiotis Panayiotidis, Maria Dimou, Marie-Christine Kyrtsonis, Maria Palassopoulou, Georgios Vassilopoulos, Maria Moschogiannis, Christina Kalpadakis, Dimitrios Margaritis, Alexander Spyridonidis, Eurydiki Michalis, Konstantinos Anargyrou, Panagiotis Repousis, Eleutheria Hatzimichael, Zoi Bousiou, Elias Poulakidas, Dimitrios Grentzelias, Nikolaos Harhalakis, Gerassimos A Pangalis, Achilles Anagnostopoulos, Panagiotis Tsirigotis
Author Information
Maria K Angelopoulou: Department of Hematology, Laikon General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Theodoros P Vassilakopoulos: Department of Hematology, Laikon General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Ioannis Batsis: Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department, General Hospital of Thessaloniki Papanikolaou, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Ioanna Sakellari: Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department, General Hospital of Thessaloniki Papanikolaou, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Konstantinos Gkirkas: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, ATTIKON General University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Vasiliki Pappa: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, ATTIKON General University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Panagiota Giannoulia: Department of Hematology, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Ioannis Apostolidis: Department of Hematology, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Christos Apostolopoulos: Third Department of Medicine, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Thoracic Diseases, Hematology Unit, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Paraskevi Roussou: Third Department of Medicine, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Thoracic Diseases, Hematology Unit, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Panayiotis Panayiotidis: 1st Department of Propedeutic Internal Medicine, Laikon General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Maria Dimou: 1st Department of Propedeutic Internal Medicine, Laikon General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Marie-Christine Kyrtsonis: 1st Department of Propedeutic Internal Medicine, Laikon General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Maria Palassopoulou: Department of Hematology, Larissa University Hospital, University of Thessalia, Larissa, Greece.
Georgios Vassilopoulos: Department of Hematology, Larissa University Hospital, University of Thessalia, Larissa, Greece.
Maria Moschogiannis: Department of Hematology, Athens Medical Center, Athens, Greece.
Christina Kalpadakis: Department of Hematology, Heraklion University Hospital, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
Dimitrios Margaritis: Department of Hematology, Democritus University of Thrace Medical School, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Alexander Spyridonidis: Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Eurydiki Michalis: Department of Clinical Hematology, "G.Gennimatas" Athens General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Konstantinos Anargyrou: Department of Hematology, Air Force Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Panagiotis Repousis: Department of Hematology, Metaxa Hospital, Pireaus, Greece.
Eleutheria Hatzimichael: Department of Hematology, Ioannina University Hospital, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Zoi Bousiou: Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department, General Hospital of Thessaloniki Papanikolaou, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Elias Poulakidas: Department of Hematology, 401 Military Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Dimitrios Grentzelias: Hygeia General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Nikolaos Harhalakis: Department of Hematology, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Gerassimos A Pangalis: Department of Hematology, Democritus University of Thrace Medical School, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Achilles Anagnostopoulos: Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department, General Hospital of Thessaloniki Papanikolaou, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Panagiotis Tsirigotis: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, ATTIKON General University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
This retrospective study aimed to describe the Hellenic experience on the use of brentuximab vedotin (BV) in relapsed/refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) given within its indication. From June 2011 to April 2015, ninety-five patients with R/R HL, who received BV in 20 centers from Greece, were analyzed. Their median age was 33 years, and 62% were males. Sixty-seven patients received BV after autologous stem cell transplantation failure, whereas 28 patients were treated with BV without a prior autologous stem cell transplantation, due to advanced age/comorbidities or chemorefractory disease. The median number of prior treatments was 4 and 44% of the patients were refractory to their most recent therapy. The median number of BV cycles was 8 (range, 2-16), and the median time to best response was the fourth cycle. Fifty-seven patients achieved an objective response: twenty-two (23%), a complete response (CR), and 35 patients (37%), a partial, for an overall response rate of 60%. Twelve patients (13%) had stable disease, and the remaining twenty-six (27%) had progressive disease as their best response. At a median follow-up of 11.5 months, median progression-free survival and overall survival were 8 and 26.5 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that chemosensitivity to treatment administered before BV was associated with a significantly increased probability of achieving response to BV (P = .005). Bulky disease (P = .01) and response to BV (P <.001) were significant for progression-free survival, while refractoriness to most recent treatment (P = .04), bulky disease (P = .005), and B-symptoms (P = .001) were unfavorable factors for overall survival. Among the 22 CRs, 5 remain in CR with no further treatment after BV at a median follow-up of 13 months. In conclusion, our data indicate that BV is an effective treatment for R/R HL patients even outside clinical trials. Whether BV can cure a fraction of patients remains to be seen.
