ASH: Quality of Life

 
OK, time to get to some of the 126 abstracts from this year's ASH Conference that are related to Follicular NHL.

The first is called "Differences in Quality of Life Between Bendamustine Plus Rituximab Compared with Standard First-Line Treatments in Patients with Previously Untreated Advanced Indolent Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma or Mantle Cell Lymphoma."

I find it intriguing because we're getting even more research devoted to Bendamustine (Treanda); it was pretty much established as the go-to treatment for fNHL in the last year, and more research just keeps reaffirming it. 

In this study, researchers compared relapsed and refractory fNHL and MCL patients who were given either Bendamustine + Rituxan, or who were given "standard" chemotherapies of either R-CHOP or R-CVP.  But instead of measuring its effectiveness in reducing the cancer (which they may very well have also looked at), they looked at how the treatments affected quality of life -- how much the treatments affected their everyday happiness, in a sense, and their ability to function in a "normal" way.

Patients were given questionnaires about Quality of Life, asking about things like cognitive issues (which probably means "chemo brain"), emotional issues, physical issues, etc. The questionnaires were given at the beginning and the end of treatment. We know that B-R has fewer side effects than CVP or CHOP, so it's no surprise that quality of life either went up, or did not go down as quickly as it did for the "standard" chemos.  

It's a significant study, not just because it gives yet another reason to consider Bendamustine. Maybe more importantly, it reinforces the idea that Quality of Life matters when it comes time to choose treatments, especially in something like fNHL, where patients are often asymptomatic. If it's possible to maintain quality of life while providing an effective treatment that reduces cancer, it seems like a no-brainer.

And yes, there are still lots of doctors who recommend R-CHOP as a first line treatment, probably out of habit (though they certainly may have other reasons). More research like this on Quality of Life -- and more proactive patients -- might change their minds.