An unusual case of spontaneous remission of Hodgkin's disease after a single cycle of COPP-ABV chemotherapy followed by infectious complications.
Advanced Hodgkin's disease is usually treated with six or more cycles of combination chemotherapy. Spontaneous regression of the cancer is very rarely reported in patients with Hodgkin's disease. We present an unusual case of a patient with Hodgkin's disease who experienced complete remission with a single cycle of chemotherapy, followed by pneumonia. The case was a 36-year-old man diagnosed with stage IVB mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease in November 2000. After treatment with one cycle of COPP-ABV (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone, doxorubicin, bleomycin, and vinblastine) chemotherapy without bleomycin, the patient developed interstitial pneumonia and was cared in the intensive care unit (ICU) for two months. Follow-up chest computerized tomography (CT), performed during the course of ICU care, revealed markedly improved mediastinal lymphomatous lesions. Furthermore, follow-up whole body CT and 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography showed complete disappearance of the lymphomatous lesions. Four years later, the patient is well and without relapse. This report is followed by a short review of the literature on spontaneous regression of Hodgkin's disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of spontaneous remission of Hodgkin's disease in Korea.
Division of Hemato-oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun- gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Seung Min
SM
Bang
June Won
JW
Cheong
Woo Ick
WI
Yang
Jee Sook
JS
Hahn
D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000150:complications*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011344:Procarbazine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D001761:Bleomycin; D011344:Procarbazine; D014750:Vincristine; D014747:Vinblastine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D011241:Prednisone