[Liposomal cytarabine in prophylaxis of the central nervous system involvement in rare aggresive lymphomas]

The involvement of central nervous system in the course of lymphoma is an adverse prognostic factor, therefore primary prevention is a standard of care of aggressive lymphoma subtypes. The aim of the paper is the safety and efficiency, retrospective analysis of liposomal cytarabine used profilactically in patients with rare aggressive lymphomas.

In the analysis we included 19 patients with aggressive lymphomas: LBL (lymphoblastic lymphoma), BL (Burkitt lymphoma) and PTCL (peripheral T- cell lymphoma) from three PLRG (Polish Lymphoma Research Group) centers, who received liposomal cytarabine as primary prevention of central nervous system involvement. All the included patients had a high risk of CNS due to histological subtype (10 patients with LBL, 4 patients with BL), the specific location of the disease (N=3) or the presence of at least 2 risk factors for CNS involvement (elevated LDH, IPI 3-5 or involvement of at least 2 extranodal sites, N = 16). In this group, 18 patients were subjected to prophylaxis during the 1-st line therapy and one after relapse. None of the patients had symptoms of central nervous system involvement at the time of diagnosis. The median age was 43 years (the range of 20-60 years). In this group there were 14 males (73.68%) and 5 females (26.32%). The patients were treated with liposomal cytarabine every 2 to 4 weeks during the systemic chemotherapy. The median number of cytarabine doses was 2 (the range of 1-5).

Liposomal cytarabine was well-tolerated. 63.1% of patients had transient side effects (nausea, vomiting, fever, dizziness) in grade 1-2, 5.2% of patients experienced a more severe headache (grade 3). During the average follow-up of 18 months, 50% of patients died and 27.7% of systemic recurrences were noted. Only one patient had a relapse in the CSN con comitant with a systemic recurrence.

Lipo somal cytarabine is well-tolerated and effective medicine used in the prevention of CNS relapse in patients with ag gressive lymphoma subtypes.