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Table 3 Advantages and disadvantages of deferring treatment in asymptomatic FL patients (watchful waiting)

From: Has the time to come leave the “watch-and-wait” strategy in newly diagnosed asymptomatic follicular lymphoma patients?

Advantages

· Patients are spared the effects of acute toxicity

· Patients are spared the effects of serious late toxicity (i.e., myelodysplasia)

· The development of shared "cross-resistance" to other therapies is avoided

Disdvantages

· Risk of severe complications associated with the disease during the interval between visits

· The chances of obtaining a good antitumor response with the first course of treatment can decrease [16]

· The risk of FL transformation into aggressive lymphoma can increase [23]

· Anxiety caused by the fact of suffering an oncologic disease that is not being treated

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BMC Cancer

ISSN: 1471-2407

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