Real-world data for marginal zone lymphoma patients in the French REALYSA cohort: The REALMA study

Abstract

Marginal Zone Lymphoma (MZL) comprises three subtypes: extranodal MZL (EMZL), splenic MZL (SMZL) and nodal MZL (NMZL). Since clinical trials have limited representativeness, there is a need for real-world data (RWD) evidence in MZL. Real-world data in Lymphoma and survival in Adults (REALYSA) is a prospective multicentric French cohort of newly diagnosed lymphoma patients. This study consists of the first abstraction of MZL patients prospectively included in REALYSA between 12/2018 and 01/2021 with at least 1 year of follow-up. It provides a landscape description of clinical characteristics, initial workup, quality of life and first-line therapy performed in routine practice. Among 207 included patients, 122 presented with EMZL, 51 with SMZL and 34 with NMZL. At baseline, median age was 67 years (range 28–96), and patients reported a favorable global health status (75/100 (IQR 58,83)) – which was higher in NMZL and lower in SMZL patients (p = 0.006). ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT was frequently performed at initial workup (EMZL 72%, SMZL 73%, NMZL 85%). Active surveillance was the initial management for 58 (28%) patients. The most prescribed therapies were rituximab-chlorambucil in the EMZL population (30%), rituximab monotherapy in the SMZL population (37%) and R-CHOP (24%)/bendamustine-rituximab (15%) in the NMZL population. At end of first line, overall response rate was 93% among treated patients with 75% of complete response. This French nationwide study provided for the first time prospective RWD on clinical characteristics, initial management and treatment response of MZL patients.