Dr. Nowakowski on Using Patient Performance Score and Age for MCL Treatment

Grzegorz S. Nowakowski, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, discusses the use of patient performance status and age to make treatment decisions for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

The tools Nowakowski uses currently to determine treatment for patients with MCL is patient performance status and age. Age is an important factor; traditionally younger patients who are fit are treated with more aggressive chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, he explains.

For elderly patients, physicians are more likely to administer less intensive options. The combination of bendamustine and rituximab (Rituxan) is frequently used, he adds. It is associated with improved progression-free survival versus R-CHOP in a randomized study. It is also well tolerated, Nowakowski concludes.