TY - JOUR T1 - Survival in Advanced Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in Pre- and Post-rituximab Eras in the United States JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 5117 LP - 5120 VL - 34 IS - 9 AU - BINAY KUMAR SHAH AU - AMIR BISTA AU - BAHMAN SHAFII Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/34/9/5117.abstract N2 - Background: Rituximab was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a first-line agent for treatment of advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in February 2006. We conducted this population-based study to determine if the results from the clinical trials have translated into survival benefit in the general population. Patients and Methods: We selected patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 18 database, and calculated relative survival rates for patients diagnosed from 2002-2005 (pre-rituximab) and 2006-2009 (post-rituximab). We used the Z-test in the SEER*Stat to compare relative survival rates of patients categorized by race (White, Black, or Others), gender (male, female), and age groups (<60, 60+ years). Results: One-year relative survival in Whites and Others improved significantly in the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era (64.80±0.6% vs. 61.3±0.6%; p=0.0002 and 64.5±1.9% vs. 54.9±2.2%; p=0.0011, respectively). The 3-year relative survival improved significantly in Whites and Others in the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era (53.7±0.7% vs. 50.3±0.7%; p=0.0001 and 52.0±2.3% vs. 40.8±2.3%; p=0.0002, respectively). However, no significant improvements were observed in 1-year and 3-year relative survival in Blacks, and in young males during the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era. Conclusion: The relative survival rates among young males and ‘Black’ patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma have not improved during the post-rituximab era. ER -