Hodgkin’s disease: summary of twenty years of experience

BACKGROUND: A retrospective analysis on HODGKIN'S DISEASE (HD) was finalized to see if changing the management and therapy during the years we improved the cure rate of lymphomas and reduced the incidence of side effects due to therapy. Up to twenty years' experience was based in two major therapeutic periods: the first included patients observed between 1970 and June 1980 and the second between July 1980 and December 1987. Significant differences between the two periods were the reduction of splenectomies as staging procedure, the reduction of radiation dose and extension and the sequential use of MOPP/ABVD instead of MOPP alone. METHODS: The analysis included all patients observed over the twenty years under study by looking to the differences concerning response to therapy, survival, relapse-free survival and major consequences due to therapy, namely death not directly related to lymphoma. 377 pts entered the first period and 193 the second one with a minimum follow-up of 4 years. RESULTS: Significant differences were recorded on CR rate, 80.9% vs 90.5%, respectively (p = 0.0024) and deaths in CR, 15.1% vs 2.6%, respectively (p = 0.000). The overall survival shows a probability of 60% and 83% at 11 years for the first and the second group, respectively (p = 0.000) being the probability of survival of 50% at 20 years for the first group of pts. The probability of being in remission is similarly of 79% and 78%, for the first and second group, respectively. The risk of death in remission accounting all causes not related to lymphoma shows a 17% probability vs 6% at 11 years (p = 0.006) for the first and second group, respectively, being 38% for the former group at 20 years. The most frequent single cause of death in remission was secondary leukemia which was recorded in 14 pts on the group of pts observed between 1970 and 1980, all splenectomized and treated by MOPP and extensive radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: The modifications of therapy of HD have produced improvements concerning the prognosis of pts; these improvements are due mainly to the reduction of late side effects such as acute leukemia and second solid tumor, and to the increase of remission rate and cure rate of the lymphoma.