Treatment for relapse in stage I/II Hodgkin's lymphoma after initial single-modality treatment.
BACKGROUND
Doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine/dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy alone is a viable option for the treatment of stage I/II Hodgkin's lymphoma. Among the main drawbacks for widespread acceptance of this therapy is the absence of available data on the post-salvage therapy course in patients with limited-stage disease who relapse after ABVD. This article focuses on the outcome of 11 limited-stage patients who relapsed after ABVD alone.


METHODS
After a clinical restaging, the patients received mantle-type radiation therapy (only if patients met these criteria: supradiaphragmatic disease in a single-node area, erythrocyte sedimentation rate < 30 mm per hour, and absence of B symptoms) or conventional salvage chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.


RESULTS
After a median follow-up of 64 months, 10 patients showed complete response and are still alive without disease progression. One patient showed refractory disease and died 9 months after relapse. This experiment entails the series with the longest follow-up in patients with limited-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma who relapsed after ABVD alone.


CONCLUSIONS
The data seem to indicate that salvage therapy is capable of providing cure in most cases and lend further support for the use of ABVD alone as first-line therapy.
Rueda
Antonio
A
Oncology Department, Hospital Clinico Universitario, Malaga, Spain.
Olmos
David
D
Viciana
Ruth
R
Alba
Emilio
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; D001761:Bleomycin; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014747:Vinblastine
D001761:Bleomycin; D014747:Vinblastine; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin