Objective: We sought to assess the safety and feasibility of outpatient management in Japanese patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma who had received pegfilgrastim after salvage therapy.
Method: This was a single-center, open-label, non-randomized, prospective interventional analysis. Patients were completely hospitalized for cycle 1 of chemotherapy. Those who met the outpatient management criteria (outpatient group) were subsequently admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy cycles but were discharged after each cycle was completed. The inpatient group was discharged when white blood cell and platelet counts improved. Pegfilgrastim was given as a single 3.6 mg dose by subcutaneous injection 2 days after the completion of each chemotherapy cycle.
Results: The percentage of outpatient management days (primary endpoint) ranged from 68.2%-75.0% in the outpatient group and 28.6%-50.0% in the inpatient group. According to the secondary endpoints, there were no hospitalizations due to febrile neutropenia during the outpatient period. There were no major safety concerns raised.
Conclusions: For patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma, pegfilgrastim administration after salvage therapy in an outpatient setting was feasible and safe for those who satisfied the outpatient management criteria.
Keywords: Cost analysis; Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; Outpatients; Relapsed/refractory lymphoma.