Primary Prevention of Neutropenia by Empegfilgrastim in Patients with Advanced Stages of Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated with Intensive First-Line Chemotherapy with a Modified 6-Cycle Program EACODD-14 Under the Protocol “LKh-Rossiya-1”

Abstract

Aim. To assess the efficacy of a long-acting form of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) empegfilgrastim in primary prevention of neutropenia in patients with advanced stages of classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who received intensive chemotherapy with reduced inter-cycle interval under the protocol “LKh-Rossiya-1”.
 Materials & Methods. The study enrolled 35 patients with newly diagnosed cHL. All patients had advanced stages (IIB X/Е and III/IV) of the disease. They were treated at the NI Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center from March 2013 to August 2022. The primary prevention of neutropenia by long-acting G-CSF (empegfilgrastim) was administered to 21 patients under the protocol “LKh-Rossiya-1”. They received 6 chemotherapy cycles of modified EACODD-14, in total 126 cycles. The control group consisted of 14 patients who received 6 ЕАСОРР-14 chemotherapy cycles (in total 84 cycles) with dacarbazine as substitution for procarbazine. In the control group, the primary prevention of neutropenia was carried out using discrete G-CSF (filgrastim). The median (range) follow-up in the main (n = 21) and control (n = 14) groups was 18 (5–36) and 39 (29–116) months, respectively. The treatment efficacy was assessed based on PET-CT in 31 patients and on CT in 4 patients.
 Results. By the end of chemotherapy, complete metabolic response was achieved in 28 (80 %) out of 35 patients (95 % in the EACODD-14 and 73 % in ЕАСОРР-14 groups). In 6 (17 %) patients, partial remission was confirmed only by CT scan, and in 1 (3 %) patient, PET/CT showed stabilization. After consolidation radiotherapy, complete remission was reported in all 35 patients. Both groups received the full chemotherapy program per protocol. Without a violation of G-CSF regimen, the EACODD-14 group received 121 (96 %) cycles out of those 126 planned, whereas the ЕАСОРР-14 group received all 84 cycles per protocol. Full implementation of 107 (88.4 %) cycles in the first group and 24 (29 %) cycles in the second group was achieved in 12 (57 %) and 5 (36 %) patients, respectively (p < 0.001). Neutropenia grade 4 was more often identified in filgrastim than in empegfilgrastim recipients (57 % vs. 19 %; p < 0.05) and in a larger number of cycles (15 % vs. 3 %; p < 0.01). The rate of infection episodes in the ЕАСОРР-14 group was higher (50 % vs. 28 %) and in more cycles (15 % vs. 5 %; p < 0.05). Due to the use of long-acting G-CSF (empegfilgrastim) the number of inpatient days could be reduced from 9 to 5.
 Conclusion. The results of this study demonstrate the advantage of long-acting G-CSF (empegfilgrastim) as compared with its discrete form (filgrastim) in intensified programs with a reduced inter-cycle interval and high risk of febrile neutropenia (EACODD-14 and EACOРР-14). The use of empegfilgrastim allowed to administer three times as many chemotherapy cycles adhering to the principle of dose intensity in a larger number of patients with advanced cHL stages.