A chemotherapy only therapeutic approach to pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma: AHOPCA LH 1999.

BACKGROUND: AHOPCA is a collaborative group that designs uniform treatment regimens (protocols) for children diagnosed with cancer in Central America. Based on a preliminary report from one of the AHOPCA centers, AHOPCA adopted a treatment regimen to maintain a good event-free survival (EFS) as well as eliminate radiation therapy from the treatment of children with Hodgkin lymphoma. PROCEDURE: Newly diagnosed patients with histologically proven Hodgkin lymphoma were staged according to the Ann Arbor classification and divided into favorable (stage I, stage IIA, and IIIA) and unfavorable (stage IIB, IIIB, and IV) groups. Subjects classified as group 1 (favorable) were treated with six 28-day cycles of chemotherapy (COPP/COPP ± ABV). Subjects classified as group 2 (unfavorable) were treated with eight 28-day cycles of COPP/ABV chemotherapy. RESULTS: Of 269 patients registered, 216 were eligible for evaluation. The mean age at diagnosis was 7.5 years with a male to female ratio of 3.7-1. The predominant histology was nodular sclerosis (44%) but with a relatively high proportion of mixed cellularity (35.2%) The EFS at 5 and 10 years was 71% and 68%, respectively. There was a 14% rate of abandonment of therapy. CONCLUSION: This treatment regimen for children with Hodgkin lymphoma, when applied as a multi-institutional regimen, had poorer outcome than our previously reported preliminary data and was inferior to the EFS reported in high-income countries. The major contributor adversely affecting EFS in this report is abandonment of therapy. Given these results, AHOPCA initiated a concerted effort to decrease abandonment of therapy.