Chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease

Chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease has been overwhelmingly influential in saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of diagnosed patients dating back to the early 1970s. In fact, the development of chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease has also deeply influenced modern medicine's further approach to confronting other cancers through chemotherapy since it has seen such great success against this specific cancer. What follows is a brief run-down of the most frequently used combination chemotherapy regimens in Hodgkin's Disease.

ABVD Combination Chemotherapy

The current standard of treatment in the United States for most stages of Hodgkin's involves some combination chemotherapy, and when it is called for, the combination most likely will be the one known as ABVD .

ABVD is composed of:
• Adriamycin
• Bleomycin
• Vinblastine
• Dacarbazine

BEACOPP Combination Chemotherapy

The BEACOPP chemotherapy regimen was developed by the German Hodgkin's Study Group, perhaps the most influential and important Hodgkin's study group in the world. It contains the following drugs, which may be modified in their doses to adjust to the disease or to the patient:

• Bleomycin
• Etoposide
• Adriamycin (doxorubicin)
• Cyclophosphamide
• Oncovin
• Procarbazine
• Prednisone

Some doctors and scientists believe that BEACOPP is better for certain Hodgkin's patients than ABVD.

Stanford V

The Stanford V chemotherapy regimen was established in the 1990s by doctors at Stanford University for patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease.

• Doxorubicin
• Vinblastine
• Mechlorethamine
• Vincristine
• Bleomycin
• Etoposide
• Prednisone

While some doctors are critical of Stanford V because it involves a lot of chemotherapy drugs and exposes the patient to risks of secondary cancers later in life, the regimen does have its benefits and has successfully treatment many patients.

MOPP Combination Chemotherapy

The MOPP chemotherapy regimen is one of the oldest regimens in science, and is not used with much frequency anymore. It involves the use of the following chemotherapeutic agents:

• Mustargen
• Oncovin
• Procarbazine
• Prednisone

For many years, MOPP was the standard of treatment for Hodgkin's patients, but it has since been superseded by superior regimens such as ABVD.

Adcetris (SGN-35)

The first new treatment for Hodgkin's to be FDA approved in many years arrived in 2011. Known by its brand name, Adcetris, this treatment is not actually chemotherapy. Chemotherapy refers specifically to 'chemical therapy'. Adcetris is a treatment that selectively targets certain cells in the body and binds itself to those cells, then delivers a drug payload that kills those cells. Known as an antibody drug conjugate, Adcetris is a form of immunotherapy.

You can read more about Adcetris HERE.