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Maintenance therapy has been the strong and standard element of many acute lymphoblastic leukaemia protocols, used much less frequently and systematically in adult oncohematological disorders. The first adult maintenance efforts appeared in follicular and mantle cell lymphoma (mostly monoclonal antibody based), along with an early maintenance effort to prolong the plateau phase of myeloma. For the time being, after a long debate, the prognosis-dependent type of consolidation and maintenance became - sometimes until relapse - the standard approach in myeloma patients. The so-called small molecules, which turned out to be effective as induction and relapse agents, are continuously moving toward maintenance settings. Moreover, maintenance efforts seem to be more and more considered and used in transplanted or some non-transplanted acute myeloid leukaemia patients as well. Nevertheless, maintenance should be patient-friendly, easy to use (e.g., tablets) by enabling short outpatient office time, done not very frequently, and as much quality-of-life-based as possible. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(38): 1623-1628.

We report results of a randomized, phase III study of ofatumumab versus physicians' choice treatment in patients with bulky fludarabine-refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and explore extended versus standard-length ofatumumab treatment. Patients (79 ofatumumab, 43 physicians' choice) completed a median 6 (ofatumumab) or 3 (physicians' choice) months' therapy. Ofatumumab-treated patients with stable disease or better were randomized (2:1) to 6 months' extended ofatumumab treatment or observation. Although the study did not meet the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) by independent review committee (ofatumumab: 5.4 months, physicians' choice: 3.6 months; p = 0.27), median PFS by investigators was significantly longer for ofatumumab versus physicians' choice (7.0 versus 4.5 months; p = 0.003) as was time to next therapy (median 11.5 versus 6.5 months; p = 0.0004). PFS and time to next therapy were significantly longer with ofatumumab extended treatment than observation (p = 0.026 and p = 0.002, respectively; n = 37). The adverse-event profile of long-term ofatumumab administration showed no unexpected findings (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01313689).

Objective and Importance: Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a well-curable disease. The treatment usually includes combined multiagent conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. One-fifth of the patients need repeated treatments because of relapse or primary progressive disease. Those HL patients, who cannot be cured at least with salvage therapy (including autologous haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT)), have really unfavourable prognosis., Intervention: For this heavily pretreated subset of HL patients, novel but less toxic treatment strategies should be considered. Brentuximab-vedotin (BV) is a novel targeted treatment option, which was administered after the failure of two different regimens in patients, who were ineligible for auto-HSCT or after the failure of auto-HSCT. Moreover, there are favourable data with chemotherapeutical regimens supplemented with rituximab not only in relapsed but also in newly diagnosed classical HL patients. Bendamustine, an almost forgotten 50-year-old drug, lives its renaissance in the twenty-first century, which can be administered in refractory HL as well. Combination of the 'new' and 'old' drugs might be also helpful., Conclusion: Our data suggest that rituximab plus bendamustine (supplemented with or without BV) could be a suitable alternative bridging salvage therapy for heavily pretreated HL patients.

Acute myelogenous leukemia is a heterogeneous disease. Recent molecular mutational analysis techniques have shed more light on different, genetically well characterised types of the disease. Treatment approach is uniform except for acute promyelocytic leukemia. Application of the "3 + 7" induction treatment has been the gold standard in the past 40 years. While the dose of cytarabine has not been changed, escalating daunorubicine dose in younger (<60 years) patients with good performance status to 90 mg/m(2) had a positive impact on overall survival. High dose chemotherapy is tolerated poorly in patients older than 60 years of age and, as treatment is not curative in the elderly, improvement of overall survival and quality of life remains the main goal of management in these patients. Low intensity treatment is beneficial and can provide additional advantage over supportive care. Innovative and targeted therapy approaches might give promise to better management of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia.

Introduction: Mortality of acute myeloid leukemia is still 60-70% in young (<60 years) adults and 90% in elderly (≥60 years) patients., Aim: The aim of the authors was to analyse the outcome of treatment in their patients with acute myeloid leukemia., Method: From 2007 to 2013, 173 patients with acute myeloid leukemia were treated. Patients were classified according to the European LeukemiaNet prognostic guideline. Association between mortality and the type of acute myeloid leukemia (secondary or primary), dose of daunoblastin at induction of treatment, and the rate of minimal residual disease were investigated., Results: The 5-year survival probability was 25% in young adults and 2% in the elderly. The survival was significantly influenced by these prognostic factors. The 5-year survival rate was 50% in the young, favorable prognostic group. The 90 mg/m2 daunoblastin dose was found to be beneficial. Addition of bortezomib to the standard induction protocol had an additional beneficial effect., Conclusions: The speed and depth of the response to induction therapy, and the initial white blood cell count had an apparent effect on survival.

Objectives: Treatment options for relapsing Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are controversial after autologous hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Nevertheless, allogeneic HSCT may be curative if it is performed in complete remission., Case Report: In 2007, a 22-year-old female patient was diagnosed with nodular sclerosis subtype of classical HL. Her clinical stage was IIAX with unfavorable prognosis. Eight courses of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine chemotherapy and involved field irradiation were applied, but after 3 months of complete remission, disseminated relapse was recognised by (18)FDG-PET/CT. After two cycles of salvage dexamethasone, cisplatinum, and cytosine arabinoside therapy, further progression was noticed, so the treatment was modified to ifosfamide, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and prednisone (IGEV) regimen. After two cycles of IGEV regimen, she achieved a complete metabolic remission, which was confirmed by a (18)FDG-PET/CT scan again. She was referred for autologous-HSCT, and a successful stem cell collection was performed in August 2008. However, a rapid progression was detected again, so total body irradiation was applied before the conditioning therapy with R-mini-BEAM regimen. The (18)FDG-PET/CT scan performed 100 days after the autologous-HSCT was still positive. In December 2009, multiple nodal and extranodal progression was detected, so ifosfamide, carboplatine, etoposide, mesna protection rescue treatment was started, but it was ineffective. Based on sporadic data of the literature, rituximab-bendamustine therapy was started in March 2010. After four cycles, she achieved complete metabolic remission, which was verified by (18)FDG-PET/CT. The patient has been referred for an allogeneic HSCT with reduced intensity conditioning., Conclusions: Based on our experience, bendamustine-rituximab salvage therapy can be a suitable option for the treatment of post-transplant progression or relapse of HL., (Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Understanding the pathogenesis and refine the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia have been tremendously improved in the past decade. Treatment outcome and estimated prognosis have become more accurate due to the advanced molecular biological techniques and the classical prognostic markers. Incorporation of fludarabine and rituximab into the standard protocols fundamentally improved treatment outcome in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Chemoimmunotherapy has improved not only the remission rates but had a significant impact on overall survival, as well. Eliminating residual leukemia and achieving complete hematological remissions at such high rates establish potential background for cure. Still, a great deal of dispute has been emerged regarding everyday clinical practice. Authors present their institutional experiences and review the literature.

The arrival of the novel agents thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide has significantly changed our approach to the management of multiple myeloma and, importantly, patient outcomes have improved. These agents have been investigated intensively in different treatment settings, providing us with data to make evidence-based decisions regarding the optimal management of patients. This review is an update to a previous summary of European treatment practices that examines new data that have been published or presented at congresses up to the end of 2010 and assesses their impact on treatment practices.

B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (B-PLL) is a rare disorder characterized by marked lymphocytosis in the peripheral blood, matured lymphocytic infiltration in the bone marrow and splenomegaly. It has a distinct immunophenotype (CD19, CD20, CD22, FMC7, intensive surface immunoglobulin positivity) which helps to differentiate from other lymphoproliferative malignancies. It has a poor prognosis and its treatment is unsettled. The authors present a case of a patient with typical B-PLL treated with FCR-Lite (fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, rituximab) protocol achieving complete hematological (and immunophenotypic) remission. The treatment was well tolerated. Neither major infective complication nor tumor lysis syndrome was observed. According to the author's experience the FCR-Lite protocol can not only be used in patients with CLL but it also can be effective in patients with B-PLL. No clinical experience has been reported yet in the literature with this protocol.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) belongs to the so-called peripheral (differentiated) B cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. In spite of that, it runs an aggressive course; quick progression and most cases are diagnosed in advanced stages. On the other hand, chemotherapy and immunochemotherapy (in contrast with other aggressive lymphomas) are not able to show any curative potential. However, combined efforts of first line antiCD20 based intensified immunochemotherapy along with high dose therapy (preferably irradiation based conditioning regimens) and autologous transplant consolidation of first complete remission achieves major breakthrough and prolongation of life expectancies of 7-10 years instead of the 2.5-3 years average survival of the traditional chemotherapeutic approach. A lot of new agents (i.e. the FDA approved MCL indication of bortezomib, temsirolimus, thalidomide, etc.) are or should be available for the refractory or relapsed patients. This short review summarizes the most important advances of MCL therapy and provides an updated therapeutic recommendation.

Unlabelled: Five years ago (in September, 2003), the activity of the 5th Haemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Centre of Hungary has begun. This centre has been registered as No 648. by the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation-Centres., Aims: To supply the needs of stem cell transplantation regions in north-east Hungary and to develop an active co-operation with the Hungarian and international centres., Methods: Transplantations were made according to international criteria., Results: 150 autologous stem cell transplantations has been performed so far, including 74 patients with myeloma multiplex, 43 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 27 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 4 patients with autoimmune disease, and one patient with leiomyosarcoma. The survival rates were similar to the previous Hungarian and international data. The centre played a role in other activities using stem cell therapy at the University of Debrecen (dendritic cell vaccine program, stem cell therapy in myocardial infarction, stem cell therapy in peripheral arterial- and autoimmune diseases). This centre performed the largest quantity of the conditioning protocol Zevalin, Bischloronitrosourea, Etoposide, cytosine-Arabinoside, Melphalan in non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Hungary; ten patients were treated with this protocol.

The most aggressive and rare manifestation of multiple myeloma is plasma cell leukaemia (PCL). While secondary form of PCL represents those heavily pretreated cases when leukaemic transformation develops terminally after intensive chemotherapy in patients with multiple myeloma, primary cases are characterized by leukaemic symptoms present at diagnosis. The secondary form has a rapid progression. The management of PCL is still unsolved. The authors present a case of a patient with non-secretory multiple myeloma who had developed plasma cell leukaemia after peripheral stem cell transplantation. PAD (bortezomib, doxorubicin, dexamethasone) treatment resulted in complete remission and 9-month survival of the patient. Previous case reports in the literature and our experience have revealed PAD protocol to be well tolerated and effective in PCL. Combination of PAD treatment with autologous and/or allogenic stem cell transplantation might further improve patients' outcome.

Chronic neutrophilic leukemia is an uncommon hematological entity. According to the WHO classification it is recognized as part of the family of myeloproliferative disorders. In the last 20 years seven patients have been diagnosed with chronic neutrophilic leukemia at our department. All but one had splenomegaly, two patients developed severe anaemia and in one case thrombocytosis was present at the time of diagnosis. White blood cell count ranged between 39 x 10(9)/1-71 x 10(9)/l with 80% of neutrophils and striking myeloid hyperplasia were present in the bone marrow without evidence of any dysplasia resembling chronic myelocytic leukemia. Granulocyte alkaline phosphatase scores were increased except one case and both cytogenetics (Philadelphia chromosome) and molecular biologic analysis (bcr/abl) revealed no alteration of any. Four patients have been followed up. Three of them died due to progression of chronic neutrophilic leukemia. One patient, initially receiving hydroxyurea + interferon therapy and showing progression, developed complete hematological remission with an eight week imatinib mesylate (Glivec) treatment. Beside of their own experiences the authors review the current literature and discuss differential diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, as well.

Primary treatment of advanced Hodgkin's disease. Hodgkin's disease is one of the few malignant diseases that can be cured even in an advanced stage in the majority of cases. By employing a polychemotherapy containing anthracyclines, a long remission and recovery can be achieved in 60-70% of the patients. At present the standard treatment is ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) scheme for the following reasons: besides good treatment results early side effects are more favourable; sterility and secondary acute leukemia present themselves less often than by employing regimens containing alkylating agents. Unfortunately, some of the patients do not react properly to the treatment and about one third of the patients who are in remission following primary treatment will relapse at a later stage. The main goal is now to further improve treatment (recovery) results without an increase, or even a decrease of early or late side effects. Awareness of prognostic factors should lead to the employment of a less intensive but not toxic therapy in patients with good prognosis to prevent overtreatment, while in cases with bad prognosis a more effective regimen is needed (even for the price of expected complications). The latest meta-analysis on the subject has shown that--similarly to sequential high dose therapy--the addition of radiotherapy to an effective chemotherapy does not seem to prolong the survival of patients. Despite the excellent therapeutic results achieved by the many new "intensive" chemotherapies, there is unfortunately no optimal therapy or protocol available today. The multicentre analysis to confirm these results and to compare them with standard scheme is still under way. It is to be hoped that risk adapted management for advanced stage Hodgkin's disease will also be available soon.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is a disease with a variable clinical course and prognosis. New prognostic factors like immunoglobulin gene mutational status, cytogenetic abnormalities, CD38 and ZAP70 expression of malignant cells have been described recently. Conventional and biological prognostic factors allow to identify patients with unfavorable prognosis at early stage. Purin analogues, fludarabine and fludarabine based combinations can achieve complete hematological remission in approximately one third of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Chemoimmunotherapy (most experience is obtained by combination of fludarabine + cyclophosphamide + rituximab) can increase not only complete remission rate, but also induce molecular remission in some cases. Stem cell transplantation as well as early and effective chemotherapy are curative choices of treatment in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

The WHO classification of adultory acute myeloid leukemia puts the main emphasis on prognosis, based mainly upon cytogenetic findings and gene-expression profiles. The complex prognostic assessment provides a more solid basis for early therapeutic stratification. This review focuses mainly on medical therapy. Induction phase is quite uniform, it consists of antracyclin and cytosin arabinosid. High-dose cytosin arabinosid is the predominant tool of postinduction therapy, especially in the favorable cytogenetic pattern cases. All-trans retinoic acid resulted in extremely good results in the promyelocytic cases, and this therapy seems to be advantageous in respect of acute DIC, too. Arsenic trioxide could be the drug of choice in relapsed promyelocytic leukemia. Some new agents are promising in refractory or relapsed cases, i.e. antibodies (Mylotarg) or farnesyltransferase inhibitors. The near future may bring about new therapeutic approaches, involving immunotherapy (dendritic cell vaccines) or gene-therapy as well.