Waldenström Macroglobulinemia: Relapsed/Refractory

The term “relapsed” refers to disease that reappears or grows again after a period of remission.

The term “refractory” is used to describe when the lymphoma does not respond to treatment (meaning that the cancer cells continue to grow) or when the response to treatment does not last very long.

For patients whose disease relapses or becomes refractory, secondary therapies may be successful in providing additional remissions. Some of the previous therapies discussed can be used or reused depending on a patient’s age, length of remission, stem cell transplant eligibility, and previous toxicities encountered. Additional therapies to treat relapsed/refractory Waldenström macroglobulinemia include:

• Everolimus (Afinitor)
• Ofatumumab (Arzerra) for patients who are intolerant to rituximab
• High-dose chemotherapy followed by an autologous (patients receive their own stem cells) or allogeneic (patients receive stem cells from a donor) stem cell transplant in select patients