Clinical outcomes in newly diagnosed patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia treated in a tertiary academic centre

Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia (WM) is a rare B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder with multiple effective front-line treatment options. However, real-world comparative data on commonly used regimens are limited. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 348 consecutive, newly diagnosed WM patients treated between 2002 and 2024. Patients received first-line therapy with either bortezomib-dexamethasone-rituximab (BDR, n = 35), Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKis, n = 57) or dexamethasone-rituximab-cyclophosphamide (DRC, n = 256). BTKi demonstrated the highest MRR (major response rate, ≥PR) (80.7%), followed by DRC (68.4%) and BDR (40.0%) (p < 0.001). The median PFS and OS did not differ significantly among regimens. TTNT seemed to be longer in the BTKi group (log-rank p = 0.025), with a 74% reduced risk of salvage therapy compared to DRC (aHR = 0.26, p = 0.016). Cumulative WM-related mortality at 5 years was lowest in BTKi-treated patients (4.1% vs. 13.0% DRC vs. 17.1% BDR), though differences were not statistically significant. In this single-centre analysis, both BTKi and DRC led to prolonged disease control in the upfront treatment of patients with WM. Extended follow-up and prospective validation are needed to reveal potential long-term survival differences.