Hodgkin’s lymphoma in children aged 5 years or less – The United Kingdom experience

PurposeThe aim of this study is to describe the natural history of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) in a large unselected group of children aged 5 years or below at diagnosis, who were treated on a standard treatment programme in the United Kingdom between 1982 and 2000.MethodsEighty-one unselected children with HL aged 5 years or under at diagnosis, treated on the United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) Hodgkin’s trials HD1 (1982–1992) and HD2 (1992–2000), were included in the study.ResultsSixty-one patients (81%) presented with early stage disease (n = 66). Fifty-three patients (65%) received combination chemotherapy, 28 (34%) received involved field radiotherapy (IF-RT) and 4 patients were treated with combined modality therapy. Eighteen children relapsed after primary therapy.ConclusionsChildren treated with IF-RT had a higher rate of primary treatment failures as well as increased late treatment-related morbidity.