Accurate reporting of adverse events in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma

The treatment of lymphomas such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has greatly advanced, especially over the last decade, with notable improvements in patient responses and survival times. However, adverse events remain an important, and often overlooked, issue in the management of these patients. Treatment of these malignancies is made additionally complex due to the occurrence of related severe cytopenias and other side effects. New agents to treat NHL and CLL are currently in clinical development; many of these are targeted agents with the added benefit of not producing the same adverse events (such as hematologic toxicity) observed with older cytotoxic chemotherapies. However, even these newer agents must be incorporated with caution into the clinical setting, as they have their own unique toxicity profiles and can even cause off-target effects when used at high doses. As these agents advance through clinical trials, clinicians must be able to recognize and manage associated adverse events. This monograph addresses these important points, with experts discussing adverse events due to the malignancies themselves as well as their associated treatments. Proper reporting of adverse events is critical, as are proper clinical trial design and long-term follow-up.