Curative potential of combined modality therapy for advanced Hodgkin's disease

• Published in: Cancer Vol. 46; no. 7; p. 1509
• Main Authors: Farber, L R, Prosnitz, L R, Cadman, E C, Lutes, R, Bertino, J R, Fischer, D B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-10-1980
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hodgkin Disease - therapy; Humans; Male; Prognosis; Remission, Spontaneous
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19801001)46:7<1509::AID-CNCR2820460702>3.0.CO;2-T

During the period from 1969 through 1977, 124 patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease underwent treatment with combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Sixty-three cases were previously untreated, and 61 were relapses following radical radiotherapy for localized Hodgkin's disease. No patient in this series had received prior chemotherapy. Of 102 patients (84%) who have entered complete remission, 92 remain in complete remission with a median follow up time of five years, 10 patients having relapsed, and acute leukemia having developed in 2. The cumulative survival rate for all 124 patients is 80% at five years; the relapse-free survival rate is 74%. In many, if not most cases, the Hodgkin's disease appears to be cured. We have also identified two subgroups of patients for whom the prognosis is worse than for patients with advanced-stage disease as a whole. Patients over the age of 40 years have a five-year survival rate of only 45%, compared with 89% for all other patients. Those Stage IV patients with multiple extranodal sites of involvement have a five-year survival rate of 48%, compared with 81% for other Stage IV patients with only a single extranodal site involved.