Outcome of COVID-19 in Patients With Mantle Cell Lymphoma-Report From the European MCL Registry

Marie-Kristin Tilch; Carlo Visco; Sandra Kinda; Olivier Hermine; Milena Kohn; Caroline Besson; Sylvain Lamure; Rémy Duléry; Simone Ragaini; Toby A Eyre; Tom Van Meerten; Anke Ohler; Steffen Eckerle; Martin Dreyling; Georg Hess; Eva Giné; Maria Gomes da Silva

doi:10.1097/HS9.0000000000000711

Outcome of COVID-19 in Patients With Mantle Cell Lymphoma-Report From the European MCL Registry

Hemasphere. 2022 Apr 8;6(5):e0711. doi: 10.1097/HS9.0000000000000711. eCollection 2022 May.

Authors

Marie-Kristin Tilch¹, Carlo Visco², Sandra Kinda³, Olivier Hermine⁴, Milena Kohn⁵, Caroline Besson⁵, Sylvain Lamure⁶, Rémy Duléry⁷, Simone Ragaini⁸, Toby A Eyre⁹, Tom Van Meerten¹⁰, Anke Ohler¹, Steffen Eckerle¹, Martin Dreyling¹¹, Georg Hess¹, Eva Giné¹², Maria Gomes da Silva¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology & University Cancer Center, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany.
² Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
³ University Hospital Center Zagreb, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Zagreb, Croatia.
⁴ Department of Hematology, Hôpital Necker, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, France.
⁵ Service d'Hématologie Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, Le Chesnay, France; Université Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France.
⁶ Departement d'Hématologie Clinique, CHU de Montpellier, UMR-CNRS 5535, Université de Montpellier, France.
⁷ Sorbonne Université, INSERM UMRs938, Service d'Hématologie Clinique et de Thérapie Cellulaire, Hôpital Saint Antoine, AP-HP, Paris, France.
⁸ Hematology, Department of Molecular Biotechnologies and Health Sciences, University of Torino/"Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino" University Hospital, Turin, Italy.
⁹ Department of Clinical Hematology, Oxford Cancer and Hematology Centre, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Department of Hematology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.
¹¹ Department of Medicine III, LMU Hospital, Munich, Germany.
¹² Department of Hematology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Department of Hematology, Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa, Portugal.

Abstract

Data on outcome of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and COVID-19 infection are limited. The European MCL (EMCL) registry is a centralized registry of the EMCL network, collecting real-world information about treatments and disease courses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional data on MCL patients with COVID-19 infection were collected, aiming to identify risk factors for mortality from COVID-19. In our retrospective, multicenter, international study, we collected data from 63 MCL patients with a median age of 64 years (range, 44-84) in 9 countries with evidence of a COVID-19 infection between February 2020 and October 2021. The overall mortality rate was high (44.4%), especially in hospitalized patients (61%) and in patients with need for intensive care unit care (94%). Patients receiving rituximab had significantly poorer survival than patients not receiving rituximab (P = 0.04). Our data highlight the importance of prevention strategies and underline the need for effective vaccination in this vulnerable cohort.