Polatuzumab-vedotin+bendamustin+rituximab as salvage and bridging therapy in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Although diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) represents a paradigm of highly curative disease with a complete remission (CR) rate of ≈ 60%-70% in an upfront setting, the remaining 30%-40% of patients present a relapse/refractory setting. These population are highly critical and amended for salvage treatment approach. Novel approaches and agents can overcome a problem in 20%-25%. Regarding this problem, polatuzumab vedotine represents one of the options. The use of this agent as bridging to further consolidation has been introduced from the real world experience with encouraging results. We present a 54-year-old male patient diagnosed with primary gastric relapse/refractory (R/R) DLBCL who had been successfully treated by the introduction of antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab-vedotine. After achieving complete response patient has been further consolidated with a high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous graft. Given the lack of availability of cellular therapies in developing countries, antibody-drug conjugate may be a plausible approach