Purpose: Although survival rates have improved for patients with bulky and advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease (HD), current treatments entail substantial acute morbidity and risks for late effects such as infertility, second malignancies, and cardiopulmonary toxicities. A novel, brief chemotherapy regimen (doxorubicin, vinblastine, mechlorethamine, vincristine, bleomycin, etoposide, and prednisone [Stanford V]) was designed to shorten the duration of treatment, significantly reduce cumulative doses of alkylating agents, doxorubicin, and bleomycin, and maintain dose-intensity (DI). This brief chemotherapy was combined with radiation therapy (RT) to bulky disease sites.
Methods: Since May 1989, 65 previously untreated patients were treated for stage II HD with bulky mediastinal involvement (n = 21) or for stage III or IV HD (n = 44). Patients received weekly chemotherapy for 12 weeks. Consolidative RT was given to the first 25 patients to sites of initial bulky disease or radiographic abnormalities that persisted after chemotherapy; in the remaining 40 patients, RT was limited to bulky disease (adenopathy > or = 5 cm and/or macroscopic splenic nodules defined by computed tomography [CT]).
Results: With a median follow-up period of 2 years, actuarial 3-year survival rate is 96% and failure-free survival (FFS) rate is 87%. The 3-year FFS rate is 100% for stage II patients with bulky mediastinal disease and 82% for patients with stage III to IV disease. There were no treatment-related deaths. In a preliminary analysis on a subset of patients, female and male fertility appears to be preserved.
Conclusion: These preliminary results indicate that the Stanford V chemotherapy regimen with or without RT is well-tolerated and effective therapy for bulky, limited-stage, and advanced-stage HD. Less cumulative exposure to alkylating agents, doxorubicin, and bleomycin and limited use of radiation is expected to decrease risks for second neoplasms and late cardiopulmonary toxicity. Based on these results, the Stanford V chemotherapy with or without RT regimen deserves further study in the context of a randomized clinical trial.