Early Chemotherapy Intensification in Interim-Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Positive Hodgkin Lymphoma

Early interim-PET after two courses of chemotherapy is a powerful outcome predictor in advanced-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) patients treated with adriamycin (doxorubicin), bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD). Two-year Progression Free Survival of PET-2 positive patients is only 12%, but the optimal treatment for this patient subset is still unknown. From January 2006 GITIL (Gruppo Italiano Terapie Innovative nei Linfomi) suggested an early intensification of chemotherapy with BEACOPP \[Bleomycin, Etoposide, Adriamycin (doxorubicin), Cyclophosphamide, Oncovin (vincristine), Procarbazine, and Prednisone\](4 escalated + 4 baseline cycles) for all the HL patients with a positive PET-2 after 2 ABVD courses. The investigators retrospectively recorded and analyzed these data in order to evaluate if this strategy could be of benefit for this subset of patients.