CHOP plus Rituximab — Balancing Facts and Opinion

Research on the treatment of the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas has finally emerged from decades of stagnation. These lymphomas, which usually arise from B lymphocytes, are the fifth most common type of cancer in the United States and are the fifth and sixth leading cause of death from cancer in men and women, respectively.1 Approximately 25 to 30 percent of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas have an indolent course; the remainder are aggressive tumors. For 25 years, the standard treatment for diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma, the most common of the aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, has been a regimen of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP), which cures . . .