Early progression is associated with worse survival in patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia

Abstract

Early progression of disease within 24 months (POD24) of diagnosis is associated with inferior overall survival (OS) in follicular lymphoma, but its prognostic role in Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM) is still unclear. Here, we performed a retrospective analysis of 373 patients pooled from the database of the Chinese Registration Network for WM (CRNWM) to determine the outcomes of early progressors. POD24 occurred in 98 evaluable patients (26.3%). The median OS in patients with POD24 was 40 months (95%CI: 15.2–64.0), which was significantly shorter than that without POD24 (156 months, 95%CI: 123.6–188.4; HR: 6.587, 95% CI 4.392–9.881, P < 0.0001). Moreover, subgroup analysis showed that POD24 still maintained its predictive ability of inferior OS in patients treated with rituximab or bortezomib-based treatment. Patients with a very high-risk rIPSSWM stage were more likely to have POD24 (P = 0.020). In conclusion, POD24 was associated with poorer survival and may represent a useful endpoint in future prospective clinical trials.