Early stage follicular lymphoma, current management and controversies

In this article, we focus on the epidemiology, outcomes, and treatment options of early stage follicular lymphoma.

Radiation therapy has been the predominant treatment for patients with early stage follicular lymphoma for decades. It is associated with a 10-year progression-free survival of 45-60%, thought to represent cures in this otherwise incurable disease with conventional modalities. Limiting the radiation field and dose does not diminish outcomes. On the contrary, the addition of chemotherapy does not benefit this patient population as a whole. The use of polymerase chain reaction for Bcl-2 gene rearrangements to detect molecular disease, however, may identify patients with early occult disseminated disease, who are at risk for relapse and would benefit from the addition of systemic therapy. For patients in whom radiation would be too toxic or prefer to not have radiation, observation is a reasonable alternative and a proportion of patients observed do not require therapy for a number of years. Despite the potential cures achieved by radiation therapy, a minority of patients in the United States receive such therapy; the majority are instead observed or treated with chemoimmunotherapy.

Patients with early stage follicular lymphoma enjoy excellent outcomes following definitive radiation therapy, many of whom may even be cured. The addition of other therapies has not enhanced cure rates but identifying patients at greatest risk for disease relapse may change this paradigm. Despite the proven success of radiation, the majority of early stage follicular lymphoma patients in the United States do not receive radiation.