Long-term follow-up of patients with hairy cell leukemia in the south of Iran

BackgroundHairy cell leukemia (HCL) is an indolent chronic lymphoproliferative disorder and first-line treatment with either intravenous or subcutaneous cladribine generally leads to long-lasting remissions.MethodAll 131 patients with hairy-cell leukemia (HCL) were analyzed, with a median follow-up of 91 months. Data is from 2007 to 2020. We evaluated the response rate to cladribine as the first line and the response rate to cladribine with or without rituximab in relapsed patients. Further, we assessed relapse-free survival, complications, and secondary malignancy.ResultsAfter a median follow-up of 91 months, the recurrence rate was 24%. The 5-year and 10-year RFS rates were 85% and 66%, respectively. Adding rituximab to 2-CDA leads to a better response rate than just cladribine (90% vs. 27.3%, p-value = 0.002) in the relapsed patients.ConclusionHCL patients have long-term survival when cladribine is the first line of treatment. Furthermore, adding rituximab to cladribine leads to a higher response rate.

Automated summary

For patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL), using cladribine as the first-line treatment leads to long-lasting remissions. In relapsed patients, adding rituximab to cladribine results in a higher response rate.