Photo Credit: Nemes Laszlo

For select patients with asymptomatic, lower-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia, ending specialized follow-up (sFU) is feasible and safe, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of Blood Advances.

Christian Brieghel, M.D., Ph.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet in Denmark, and colleagues examined the feasibility and safety of ending sFU by assessing three-year clinical outcomes for 112 patients selected to end sFU and 88 patients selected to continue sFU.

Compared with patients continuing sFU, those who ended sFU were older, but otherwise lower-risk. The researchers found that overall survival at three years was similar in the groups (87 and 80 percent for patients ending and continuing sFU, respectively). Compared with those continuing sFU, those ending sFU had lower hospital visits per patient-year (median, 0.7 versus 4.3) and longer time to first infection; this included shorter in-hospital antimicrobial treatment (median, four versus 12 days). One in six patients were re-referred, four of whom met the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia criteria for treatment. Compared with those continuing sFU, those ending sFU had a lower three-year first treatment rate (4 versus 23 percent).

“Among patients selected to end sFU, we observed fewer hospital visits, fewer infections, and shorter duration of in-hospital infections without compromising overall survival as compared to patients who continued sFU,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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