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Posted by on Jul 15, 2018 in Hodgkin's lymphoma | 0 comments

In a nutshell

This article reviewed the treatment options for patients with very high-risk Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL).

Some background

Although aggressive lymphomas are sensitive to chemotherapy, many patients do not respond well to first-line treatment. Many patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma may develop disease progression or relapse after first-line treatment. The best management approach for these high-risk patients remains under debate.

Methods & findings

70% of patients diagnosed with advanced-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma achieve long-term remission. However, 10% – 30% experience disease progression or relapse after first-line treatment. For these patients, high-dose chemotherapy followed by SCT is considered the best available option. 30% – 80% of patients can be successfully treated with this approach.

Patients who fail SCT may be candidates for allogeneic SCT (alloSCT). This procedure requires a matching stem cell donor. Previous studies reported average progression-free survival (time from treatment until disease progression) rates from 20% – 42% after this treatment. Overall survival (time from treatment until death from any cause) rates ranged from 25% – 57%.

For patients who do not respond to these therapies, antibody therapies may be another option. These include brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda). This type of treatment helps the body’s immune system attack only cancer cells, leaving healthy cells alone.

The bottom line

This article reviewed the treatment options for very high-risk lymphomas, such as refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Published By :

Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology

Date :

Jun 19, 2018

Original Title :

ESMO Consensus Conference on malignant lymphoma: management of ‘ultra-high-risk’ patients.

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