Dr. Riedell on the Importance of Identifying Early Relapse High-Risk MCL

Peter Riedell, MD, assistant professor of medicine, the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the importance of identifying early relapse in patients with high-risk mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

An analysis presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting examined the effect of time to relapse on overall survival (OS) in patients with MCL following frontline treatment with high-dose therapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT). The study concluded that relapse in MCL following AHCT defines a high-risk group with inferior post-relapse OS.

However, limitations of this analysis included the inability to gather information on known risk features of MCL, such as the Ki-67 proliferative index and MCL International Prognostic Index score, according to Riedell. These data would have been helpful in further identifying which patients are more likely to relapse early, as well as in altering treatment strategies to provide greater long-term benefit for this high-risk group, Riedell adds.

Looking forward, these data should be utilized to identify high-risk patients and look for treatment options that would yield greater benefit for them, beyond AHCT, Riedell concludes.