Long-term outcome in children with Hodgkin’s lymphoma: The United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group HD82 trial

BackgroundThe aim of United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) HD82 was to establish the efficacy of chlorambucil/vinblastine/procarbazine/prednisolone (ChlVPP) in the treatment of childhood Hodgkin’s lymphoma stages II–IV and radiotherapy (RT) alone in stage I patients. We report on the status of these patients to a follow-up of 20 years.MethodsTreatment consisted of 35 Gy involved-field RT for stage I and ChlVPP alone for stages II–IV. Adjuvant RT (35 Gy) was administered to those with bulky mediastinal disease.ResultsOf the 358 patients, the 10-year EFS/OS per stage is I (65.4%/92.6%), II (80.0%/93.3%), III (68.8%/85.0%), IV (45.5%/72.7%). The corresponding 20-year OS rates are similar with a combined (all stage) rate dropping from 89.3% to 89.0% over the decade. The cumulative 20-year malignancy rate is 7.29%.ConclusionSingle modality treatment provided relatively low EFS at 10-years but comparable long-term OS, relative to contemporary published combined modality regimens, for stages I–III but not for stage IV patients.