Chemotherapy Breakthrough for Young Hodgkin's Patients

Good news for patients diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) who are under 22 years of age.

Research published online in the journal Blood suggests that so-called dose-dense drug delivery is more effective and presents the young HL patients with fewer long-term risks to their health than traditional chemotherapy regimens,

The new regimen, idenitifed by researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island, combines 6 chemo drugs into a single dose-dense regimen, one that limits the cumulative amount of each chemo drug, below the recognised thresholds known for causing long-term toxicity.

What are the more traditional chemotherapy regimens for Hodgkin's?

MOPP
Mechlorethamine
Vincristine
Procarbazine
Prednisone

And …

ABVD
Doxorubicin
Bleomycin
Vinblastine
Dacarbazine

What is the new regimen?

ABVE-PC
Doxorubicin
Bleomycin
Vincristine
Etoposide
Prednisone
Cyclophosphamide

What did researchers hope to achieve with this new regimen?

--Cure the patient's Hodgkin's disease
--Reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy for these patients (thereby reducing infertility, second malignancy, and cardiopulmonary toxicity) while still ensuring its efficacy;
--Reach a rapid early response (RER) in order to further reduce cumulative therapy;
--Increase event-free survival;
--Shorten chemotherapy regimens (many patients required only 9 weeks of chemotherapy)

What are the conclusions of the study?

"In essence, we've been able to cure the cancer while reducing the risk of long-term effects on our patients," said Dr. Cindy Schwartz, author of the study. "This study has shown conclusively that the new chemotherapeutic treatment of ABVE-PC simultaneously provides high efficacy and reduces the cumulative doses of chemotherapy and radiation.

"We believe this represents a significant advance in the treatment of HL."

Read more about this breakthrough HERE