[Combined-modality therapy for 150 cases of early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of chemotherapy alone, radiotherapy alone and combined-modality therapy in the treatment for early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).


METHODS
From 1999 to 2002, totally 150 patients with stage I or II HL were treated in our hospital. They were stratified into several groups based on initial treatment strategy: chemotherapy alone (CT group, n = 22), radiotherapy alone (RT group, n = 18), combined-modality therapy (CMT group, n = 109) and surgical resection (SR group, n = 1). Chemotherapy regimens were mainly ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine) and MOPP (mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisone). Radiotherapy modes included involved field radiotherapy (IFRT), extended field radiotherapy (EFRT) and sub-total nodal irradiation (STNI).


RESULTS
The pathological types included nodular sclerosis (NS, n = 84), mixed-cellularity (MC, n = 39), lymphocyte-predominant (LP, n = 23), lymphocyte-depleted (LD, n = 3) and nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin's disease (NLPHD, n = 1). Of those, 72 were evaluble in terms of prognostic factors. No poor prognostic factor was found in 36.1% or 29.2% of the patients according to EORTC or GHSG criteria, respectively. There were 33 patients with complete response (CR), 109 with partial response (PR), 5 with stable disease (SD) and 3 with progressive disease (PD) after initial therapy. The median follow-up period was 71.5 months. The overall 7-yr survival rate was 89.3%, and treatment failure rate at 6 years was 18.8%. The response rate of CMT group was superior to that of CT group, and the patients with nodular sclerosis or mixed-cellularity type had significantly lower risk of treatment failure (P = 0.009 and 0.019, respectively). The multivariate analysis revealed that the treatment strategies affected the prognosis significantly. The risk of failure of chemotherapy alone was 2.52 times higher than that of combined-modality therapy (P = 0.004). No predictive factor affecting OS was identified by either univariate or multivariate analysis. The patients in CMT group suffered more adverse effects than those in either CT or RT groups, which mainly consisted of leucopenia, alopecia and gastrointestinal symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
Combined-modality therapy is more effective than chemotherapy alone or radiotherapy alone in the treatment for early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma. Though its acute adverse effects are more severe than that of chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone, it may reduce the risk of treatment failure.
Niu
Yi
Y
Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Hospital (Institute), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100021, China.
Shi
Yuan-kai
YK
He
Xiao-hui
XH
Feng
Feng-yi
FY
Zhou
Li-qiang
LQ
Gu
Da-zhong
DZ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000505:Alopecia / Q000139:chemically induced; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000139:chemically induced; D008297:Male; D008466:Mechlorethamine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011241:Prednisone / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011344:Procarbazine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014750:Vincristine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055815:Young Adult
D001761:Bleomycin; D011344:Procarbazine; D008466:Mechlorethamine; D014750:Vincristine; D014747:Vinblastine; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D011241:Prednisone