Richter transformation - retrospective treatment outcomes analysis in Polish Adult Leukemia Study Group

Authors present a retrospective analysis of 124 patients with Richter's transformation (RT) from Poland. The majority of these patients (99/124) had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (as opposed to Hodgkin lymphoma). The authors report a median overall survival (OS) for DLBCL-RT was 17.3 months and 21.3 months for Hodgkin lymphoma-RT. Factors that contributed to a worse OS for DLBCL-RT included having received prior CLL therapy, ECOG stage ≥ 2, and elevated serum LDH activity. Median OS was not reached for those patients who received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT); median OS was 51.3 months for those who received autologous HSCT. Richter's transformation remains a critical area of need for better treatments and further research regardless of where patients are diagnosed and treated.