The effectiveness of radiotherapy for localized relapse in patients with Hodgkin's disease (IIB-IVB) who obtained a complete response with chemotherapy alone as initial treatment.
Eleven patients with Hodgkin's disease (Stages IIB-IVB), diagnosed between 1977 and 1988, were identified from the Nottingham Lymphoma Registry as having been treated with radiotherapy for relapse at a localized site after a complete response (CR) with chemotherapy alone as initial treatment. The age range was 19-56 years (median 29), and the patients were all male. The median time to relapse from the date of CR was 20 months (range 5-50). All 11 patients achieved a CR with radiotherapy. Five patients have had no further relapse of Hodgkin's disease after radiotherapy. The actuarial disease free survival was 44% at 5 and 10 years. The overall survival was 100% at 5 years, and 90% at 10 years, with a median follow-up from relapse of 57 months. Longer follow-up on these patients will be needed to establish whether cure is possible with radiotherapy for localized relapse, or whether the disease behaves in a more indolent manner after chemotherapy with the possibility of further late relapses occurring. However, so far all the relapses have occurred within 4 years of radiotherapy.
MacMillan
C H
CH
Department of Clinical Oncology, Nottingham City Hospital Trust, UK.
Bessell
E M
EM
D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001365:Axilla; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate