An Israeli group published a paper in JCO this week showing a 40% improvement in survival after two years of maintenance therapy with rituxan. The effect was demonstrated in patients with relapsed low-grade lymphoma but not initial therapy. http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5197J520090210?feedType... Many of these patients go on to have stem cell transplant so it's not clear to me where rituxan fits in. I am happy to see maintenance studies especially the nice Alimta in lung cancer study reported at ASCO since patients are more likely to respond to therapy now and we have better supportive care to improve their quality of life while they are on treatment. This means that they are more likely to get to the point of saying "Ok doc do we need to do more treatment or can we stop now?" I would like to be able to say "We will give you a four-cycle round of consolidation/maintenance treatment and then you will be done." Increasingly we have a rational basis for doing this. It can be very difficult to stop treating a patient with residual disease after their best response has been achieved. Will the disease return or will it remain in remission for a year or two? I have seen both scenarios recently.