Reassessing the standard of care in indolent lymphoma: a clinical update to improve clinical practice.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) represents a diverse group of hematologic malignancies originating in B or T lymphocytes. Approximately 85% of NHLs are of B-cell origin, with the remainder mostly of T-cell origin. The most common NHL types are diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (31%) and follicular lymphoma (22%). More than 65,000 new cases of NHL develop each year, and approximately 20,000 people with NHL died of the disease 2009. NHL is the seventh most common cancer in the United States, contributes to approximately 4% to 5% of all cancer cases in the United States, and causes approximately 3% of all cancer-related deaths. Currently, nearly 500,000 people are living with the disease or are in remission. Several new and encouraging advances have been made in the treatment of indolent NHL. Although the watch and wait approach still has a role, combined immunochemotherapy remains the standard of care for both first-line and relapsed/refractory disease. As front-line treatment, bendamustine plus rituximab may become a new standard of care, especially for older patients. In contrast, rituximab in combination with chemotherapy followed by rituximab maintenance seems to be the optimal option in patients with relapsed disease.