In a nutshell
This article reviews treatment strategies for patients with early-stage (stage 1 – 2) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).
Some background
One of the main treatment goals for patients with HL is to improve long-term outcomes. However, many patients experience complications decades after initial treatment. These may include secondary cancer and heart disease.
Reducing late side effects while increasing the effectiveness of treatment is key. One strategy that has helped reduce the burden of early treatment is FDG-PET scanning. This technique helps detect cancer cells during the course of treatment. Whether FDG PET scanning reduces late side effects remains under investigation.
Methods & findings
FDG-PET scanning is used to guide early treatment for new patients with HL. Depending on the scan results, treatment can be decreased, increased, or changed to a different therapy. For example, patients with limited disease may show negative scan results. This could lead to their treatment being decreased.
Chemotherapy plus radiation therapy is called a combined modality treatment. For patients with early-stage HL, ABVD chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy is the standard treatment.
FDG-PET scanning in between cycles of chemotherapy may lead to improved outcomes. This type of scanning is called interim PET (iPET). Initial research has shown that patients with negative PET scan results after 2 cycles of ABVD treatment have a better prognosis.
iPET after 2 cycles of ABVD may also be recommended for patients who may need more intensive treatments.
The bottom line
This article reviewed treatment strategies for patients with early-stage HL. The authors recommend that interim PET scanning should be used to guide treatment for these patients.
Published By :
British Journal of Haematology
Date :
Dec 05, 2018
