Radiotherapy (RT) is typically incorporated into the treatment of limited-stage nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL), although it remains unknown whether chemotherapy alone may be suitable in select patients. We evaluated outcomes of limited-stage NLPHL at BC Cancer on the basis of era-specific guidelines: routine RT era, 1995 to 2005 (n = 36), combined modality with 2 cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy followed by RT or RT alone; positron emission tomography (PET) era, after 2005 (n = 63), ABVD alone (4 cycles) if the PET scan after the second cycle of ABVD (PET2) is negative, or treatment is changed to RT if PET2 is positive. Median age of patients was 38 years (range, 16-82 years), 73% were male, and 43% had stage II. With a median follow-up of 10.5 years for all patients, 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 91% [corrected] and was 97% for overall survival (OS), with no difference by treatment era (PFS, P = .15; [corrected] OS, P = .35). For the 49 patients who had a PET2 scan, 86% were PET negative and 14% were PET positive by Deauville criteria with 5-year PFS rates of 92% and 80% (P = .87) [corrected], respectively. This is the largest study of a PET-adapted approach in NLPHL and supports that ABVD alone may be a viable option in select patients with a negative PET2 scan, with consideration of acute and long-term toxicities.
© 2021 by The American Society of Hematology.