| 826 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(06) Rituximab maintenance therapy: a step forward in

Whilst recent advances in the treatment of follicular lymphoma (FL) have improved the outlook for many patients, relapses still occur and the search continues for strategies to extend the duration of remission without significantly increasing toxicity. One such strategy is the use of rituximab maintenance therapy for patients responding to initial induction. There is now a large body of evidence demonstrating clear benefits of rit-uximab maintenance versus observation following induction with either rituximab plus chemotherapy (R chemo), chemotherapy alone, or rituximab monotherapy, in both first-line and relapsed/refractory settings. A very important finding is that rituximab main-tenance can significantly improve overall survival in FL patients responding to induc-tion with either R-chemo or chemotherapy alone. Also, compared with rituximab retreatment at disease progression, the maintenance approach produces much bet-ter complete remission rates and significantly longer continuous remissions and pro-gression-free survival. Various maintenance schedules have been explored, all of which demonstrate clear benefits. However, the optimal dose, schedule, and duration of maintenance therapy still need to be established. Current data indicate that ritux-imab maintenance can be safely administered for up to 2 years, although assess-ment of long-term safety requires longer follow-up. From the patient’s perspective, rit-uximab maintenance also prolongs the period in which patients are symptom-free and able to lead a relatively normal daily life. Also, rituximab maintenance may help patients feel they can control their disease, rather than passively waiting for relapse