title: Curative potential of combined modality therapy for advanced Hodgkin's disease.
abstract: During the period from 1969 through 1977, 124 patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease underwent treatment with combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Sixty-three cases were previously untreated, and 61 were relapses following radical radiotherapy for localized Hodgkin's disease. No patient in this series had received prior chemotherapy. Of 102 patients (84%) who have entered complete remission, 92 remain in complete remission with a median follow up time of five years, 10 patients having relapsed, and acute leukemia having developed in 2. The cumulative survival rate for all 124 patients is 80% at five years; the relapse-free survival rate is 74%. In many, if not most cases, the Hodgkin's disease appears to be cured. We have also identified two subgroups of patients for whom the prognosis is worse than for patients with advanced-stage disease as a whole. Patients over the age of 40 years have a five-year survival rate of only 45%, compared with 89% for all other patients. Those Stage IV patients with multiple extranodal sites of involvement have a five-year survival rate of 48%, compared with 81% for other Stage IV patients with only a single extranodal site involved.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents