Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026
Robot-assisted Partial Splenectomy
Published on: January 2, 2026
Treatment of splenic marginal zone lymphoma with rituximab monotherapy: progress report and comparison with
Christina Kalpadakis1, Gerassimos A Pangalis, Maria K Angelopoulou
1Department of Haematology, University Hospital of Heraklion, P.O. Box 1352, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. xkalpadaki@yahoo.gr
Background:
Treatment of splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) patients is not standardized. Recent data suggest that rituximab is highly effective and could be considered as initial therapy.
Aim:
To assess the efficacy of rituximab monotherapy in a large series of patients with SMZL and compare these results with splenectomy results.
Methods:
The studied population included 85 patients. Fifty-eight received rituximab at a dose of 375 mg/m2 per week for 6 weeks as induction followed by maintenance at the same dose every 2 months for 1-2 years, whereas 27 patients were treated using splenectomy only.
Results:
The overall response rate to rituximab 2 months after the end of induction was 95% (complete response [CR], 45%; unconfirmed CR, 26%; partial response, 24%). The median times to hematologic and clinical response were 2 weeks and 3 weeks, respectively. Forty-three of 55 patients already completed the maintenance phase: 28 sustained their initial response, 14 improved their response, and one progressed. Eighty-five percent of splenectomized patients responded, and two were treated with rituximab as consolidation after splenectomy and achieved a CR. The 5-year overall and progression-free survival (PFS) rates for rituximab-treated and splenectomized patients were 92% and 77% (p = .09) and 73% and 58% (p = .06), respectively. Furthermore, maintenance therapy with rituximab resulted in a longer duration of response (at 5 years, PFS was 84% for patients receiving maintenance and 36% for patients without maintenance, p <.0001).
Conclusions:
Rituximab is a very effective and well-tolerated therapy and may be substituted for splenectomy as the first-line treatment of choice for patients with SMZL.
