Relapsing diffuse large B cell lymphomas (rDLBCL) represent a heterogeneous disease. This heterogeneity should be recognized and reflected, because it can deform the interpretation of clinical trial results. DLBCL patients with the first relapse and without CNS involvement were identified in the Czech Lymphoma Study Group (CLSG) database. Interval-to-therapy (ITT) was defined as the time between the first manifestation of rDLBCL and the start of any treatment. The overall survival (OS) of different ITT cohorts (< 7 vs. 7-21 vs. > 21 days) was compared. In total, 587 rDLBCLs (51.8% males) progressed with a median of 12.8 months (range 1.6 to 152.3) since the initial diagnosis (2000-2017). At the time of relapse, the median age was 67 years (range 22-95). First-line therapy was administered in 99.3% of the patients; CHOP and anti-CD20 were given to 69.2% and 84.7% of the patients, respectively. The salvage immune/chemotherapy was administered in 88.1% of the patients (39.2% platinum-based regimen). The median ITT was 20 days (range 1-851), but 23.2% of patients initiated therapy within 7 days. The 5-year OS was 17.4% (range 10-24.5%) vs. 20.5% (range 13.5-27.4%) vs. 42.2% (range 35.5-48.8%) for ITT < 7 vs. 7-21 vs. > 21 days (p < 0.001). ITT was associated with B symptoms (p 0.004), ECOG (p < 0.001), stage (p 0.002), bulky disease (p 0.005), elevated LDH (p < 0.001), and IPI (p < 0.001). The ITT mirrors the real clinical behavior of rDLBCL. There are patients (ITT < 7 days) with aggressive disease and a poor outcome. Conversely, there are rDLBCLs with ITT ≥ 21 days who survive for a long time.

1st Department of Medicine 1st Medical Faculty Charles University and General University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

4th Department of Internal medicine Hematology University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Department of Clinical Hematology Teaching Hospital Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Hematology University Hospital Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Hematology and Oncology Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno Jihlavska 20 62500 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Oncology Hospital Ceske Budejovice Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University and Faculty Hospital in Motol Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Internal Clinic of Hematology University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady and 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

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