Early Stage Follicular Lymphoma. Predictive Role of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and Impact of MRD-Driven Treatment with Radiotherapy and Rituximab on Clinical Outcome

Background.In localized follicular lymphoma (FL, stage I-II), BCL2/IGH+ cells can be detected in the peripheral blood (PB) and/or bone marrow (BM) in 66.7% of cases (Pulsoni et al, BJH 2007). We hereby analyzed the prognostic impact of MRD in localized FL and explored the possibility of a MRD-guided therapeutic approach on a series of patients with a long follow-up.