Hodgkin's lymphoma in first relapse following chemotherapy or combined modality therapy: analysis of outcome and prognostic factors after conventional salvage therapy.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognosis of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) who relapse following a complete remission (CR) achieved by chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy (CT+/-RT), and to identify prognostic factors for freedom from second progression (FF2P).


METHODS
We analyzed the prognostic significance of the initial CT regimen (4 vs. 7-8 drugs), treatment-free interval (TFI), and demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors at the time of relapse and diagnosis, in 113 patients with HL, who relapsed after a CR achieved by CT+/-RT.


RESULTS
Conventional salvage CT+/-RT was administered in 107 patients, while six received RT only. The 5-yr FF2P was 24%, while the 10-yr survival after relapse (O2S) was 39% and was not afffected by the initial CT regimen. Multivariate analysis revealed that extranodal disease at relapse (P<0.001), TFI<6 month (P<0.001), > or =5 involved sites at diagnosis (P=0.04) and anemia at relapse (P=0.03) were independent predictors of FF2P. 55% of patients had 0 or 1 of these adverse prognostic factors. The 5-yr FF2P of patients with 0, 1 or 2 adverse factors was 58%, 34% and 5% (P<0.0001). The corresponding rates for 10-yr O2S were 68%, 51% and 25%, respectively (P=0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data confirmed the significance of TFI and extranodal relapse and demonstrated a potential role for anemia at relapse and number of involved sites at diagnosis, for the prognosis of patients with HL relapsing after CT+/-RT. The combination of these prognostic factors defines a sizeable subgroup of patients with favorable outcome following conventional salvage therapy.
Vassilakopoulos
Theodoros P
TP
Hematology Section, First Department of Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laikon General Hospital, 16 Sevastoupoleos Street, Athens, Greece.
Angelopoulou
Maria K
MK
Siakantaris
Marina P
MP
Kontopidou
Flora N
FN
Dimopoulou
Maria N
MN
Boutsis
Dimitrios E
DE
Anargyrou
Konstantinos
K
Kokoris
Styliani I
SI
Giannakakis
Antonia
A
Karkantaris
Christos
C
Kyrtsonis
Marie-Christine
MC
Tsaftaridis
Panayiotis
P
Rombos
John
J
Variamis
Eleni
E
Korkolopoulou
Pinelopi
P
Kittas
Christos
C
Pangalis
Gerassimos A
GA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012008:Recurrence; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome