Lymphoma treatment shown to cut the chance of relapses

A treatment for an incurable blood cancer has been found to reduce by 45 per cent the chance of a relapse among patients who have gone into remission.

The finding is the result of an international clinical survey of the effectiveness of an antibody-based treatment targeting patients suffering from follicular lymphoma.

The treatment has been in use at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam since 2008. Professor Kwong Yok-Lam, of the hospital's haematology, oncology and bone marrow transplant department, said the survey confirmed the hospital's experience.

Unlike chemotherapy, in which drugs kill the cancer cells, targeted therapy uses antibodies to prompt the immune system to attack the cells. It is mainly used in patients who have responded well to chemotherapy in a bid to keep them in remission.

'This is not a replacement for chemotherapy,' Kwong said. 'What people don't understand is that remission needs to be maintained. Targeted therapy is maintenance therapy.'

Of the 90 people who are diagnosed with follicular lymphoma every year in Hong Kong, almost half will suffer a relapse within three years of their first-line treatment.

At present, the direction of treatment offered by the Hospital Authority does nothing to combat this. Patients are given chemotherapy and then a wait-and-see policy is adopted; if a relapse occurs, then a second round of treatment begins.