Fifteen-year secondary leukaemia risk observed in 761 patients with Hodgkin's disease prospectively treated by MOPP or ABVD chemotherapy plus high-dose irradiation.

Between 1972 and 1988, 869 adult patients received MOPP (mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisone; 462 patients) or ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine; 373 patients) and subsequent high-dose irradiation for Hodgkin's disease. Nine patients developed a leukaemia after MOPP and four after ABVD; 11 patients were diagnosed as acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia (ANLL) and two as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Both cases of ALL were observed after ABVD and were associated with a 11q23 translocation. The 15-year actuarial risk of secondary leukaemia was 2.4% for the whole group of patients, 3.4% after MOPP and 1.3% after ABVD. For the MOPP subgroup, the risk of leukaemia was significantly associated with the extent of irradiation: 2.4% for limited irradiation and 13.9% for extended irradiation (P < 0.001). For the ABVD subgroup, this risk remained low (1.3%) whatever the type of irradiation. Concerning ANLL, the MOPP regimen was significantly associated with a higher risk: 3.4% versus 0.7% for ABVD (P<or=0.05). The 15-year risk of ALL was 0.6 after ABVD regimen. This study demonstrated that ABVD induced less ANLL than MOPP. However, a low risk of ALL with a 11q23 translocation related to topoisomerase II inhibitors was observed.