10 year outcomes of early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma

This study looked at long-term outcomes of patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma according to different treatments. It found that patients who received both radiation and chemotherapy had improved long-term survival compared to either treatment alone.

At present, over 90% of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) survive at least 10 years after diagnosis. Early-stage cHL (stage I or II) has not yet spread to both the upper and lower body. Early-stage cHL can be treated with radiation, high-energy waves that kill rapidly dividing cancer cells. Alternately, chemotherapy uses medications for the same purpose. Combined modality treatment (CMT) uses both radiation and chemotherapy. Radiation and chemotherapy can have long-term side effects, including heart disease or developing a second cancer in the future.

Treatment changes have reduced the side effects over time. The doses of both radiation and chemotherapy have been modified to reduce side effects. More recent methods of delivering radiation are better at targeting the cancer and sparing healthy tissue. Additionally, the drugs most often used for chemotherapy have changed. 

After five years, CMT leads to lower rates of the cancer returning than chemotherapy alone. However, it is unclear which treatment leads to the best long-term outcomes.

This study used records from 10,433 patients with early-stage cHL who survived at least 10 years. They were diagnosed between 1983 and 2006, with an average follow up of 16.1 years. 33.6% of patients received chemotherapy alone, 23.8% received radiotherapy alone and 42.6% received CMT.

Patients treated with CMT had a 41% better survival than those treated with radiation alone. They also had a 35% better survival than those treated with chemotherapy. Patients treated with CMT were also significantly less likely to die due to causes other than cHL compared to chemotherapy alone (by 29%) and radiotherapy alone (by 45%). 

This study found that patients with cHL treated with CMT had better long-term survival compared to radiation or chemotherapy alone.

This study was based on medical records. Information might have been missing.