Article

OBJECTIVE: To determine in real-life conditions the safety of treatment with
rituximab (RTX) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding
malignancies. METHODS: Analysis of safety data from a cohort of RA patients who
received at least one course of RTX. RA patients with previous malignancies were
followed-up and compared to the group of patients with no history of malignancy.
RESULTS: One hundred and eighty-six RA patients, 33 (17.7%) males, the mean age
and disease duration were 55.8 +/- 13.0 and 14.5 +/- 11.1 years, respectively.
The mean follow-up was 22.3 +/- 15.1 months, corresponding to a follow-up of 346
pt-years of RTX exposure. Among these, 24 (12.9%) patients had a history of a
prior malignancy. Five cancers were diagnosed during follow-up with four new
malignancies (1 prostate, 1 breast, 1 colon and 1 cervical cancers) and one
recurrence of a known breast cancer. The overall cancer rate was 1.45/100
pt-years (95%CI: 0.19 to 2.70), which is comparable to previously studied
DMARD-treated cohorts. No new hematopoietic neoplasms were reported and the six
lymphomas that have been in remission prior to RTX-therapy remained under
follow-up. The baseline demographic and disease characteristics and the
cancer-risk of the 24 patients who presented with a prior malignancy were similar
to those with no cancer history (162 patients). CONCLUSIONS: Although based on a
modest number of observed cancers, and despite selection bias (12.9% of prior
malignancies in our RTX treated RA), this observational study suggests that RTX
does not increase the cancer risk in RA patients.
CI - Copyright (c) 2010 Societe francaise de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier SAS.
All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS