Treatment of unfavorable childhood Hodgkin's disease with VEPA and low-dose, involved-field radiation.

PURPOSE

Between January 1990 and April 1993, 56 pediatric patients with Hodgkin's disease were treated on a single-arm trial at three institutions with a regimen designed to maintain high cure rates while minimizing the potential late effects of treatment, such as infertility, second malignant neoplasms, and cardiopulmonary injury.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The regimen used combined-modality therapy with six cycles of vinblastine, etoposide, prednisone, and doxorubicin (VEPA) chemotherapy and low-dose, involved-field radiation. Unfavorable features comprised bulky presentations of localized (stage I or II) disease or advanced (stage III or IV) Hodgkin's disease.

RESULTS

Of 56 patients enrolled, 26 (46%) had unfavorable presentations of stage I/II disease and 30 (54%) had advanced (stage III/IV) disease. Seventy-nine percent of the patients are alive without disease at a median follow-up time of 8.9 years from diagnosis. Nineteen patients had events at a median of 1.5 years (range, 0.4 to 7.9 years) from diagnosis; 17 patients relapsed, one died of cardiomyopathy, and one died of accidental injuries. Survival and event-free survival (EFS) estimates at 5 years for the entire cohort were 81.9% (SE, 5.2%) and 67.8% (SE, 6.3%), respectively. Five-year EFS by stage was 100% for stage I, 79.2% (SE, 8.3%) for stage II, 70% (SE, 14.5%) for stage III, and 49.5% (SE, 11.3%) for stage IV patients.

CONCLUSION

Combined-modality therapy with VEPA chemotherapy and low-dose, involved-field radiation is adequate for disease control of early-stage patients with unfavorable features, but it is inferior to other standard regimens for advanced-stage patients.