[Hodgkińs disease in childhood: a sixteen year experience in a single institution]
OBJECTIVES: To report the experience in the treatment of Hodgkińs lymphoma in children at Hospital das Clínicas, UFMG, Brazil.METHODS: 31 children with Hodgkińs lymphoma were retrospectively followed up from 1983 to 1999. Fifteen children were treated according to HD-85, a protocol based on German-Austrian studies; the 16 remaining children were treated otherwise.RESULTS: The age at diagnosis varied from 3 to 15 years (median 9 years). There were 28 male patients. The follow-up period ranged from 2 months to 16 years (median 3 years and 7 months). Mixed cellularity was the predominant (61%) histological subtype; 58% had advanced disease (stages III or IV) at diagnosis. Staging abdominal surgery was necessary in 61%. No reduction in the frequency of staging surgeries was observed after starting standardized HD-85 protocol in 1994. Herpes simplex and zoster infections were the most common complications. The estimated probability of disease-free survival (DFS) was 55.6%-/+11.7% at 5 years. Overall survival probability was 96.5%-/+3.5%. No difference in DFS was apparent between children treated with HD-85 and those treated otherwise.CONCLUSIONS: The overall results in DFS are worse than those reported in the literature. The predominance of mixed cellularity subtype, and early age and advanced disease at diagnosis are commonly reported in developing countries and do not fully explain the observed results. A longer follow-up is necessary to evaluate the influence of treatment standardization on the outcome of these children.
Oliveira
B M
BM
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Viana
M B
MB
Cunha
K C
KC