Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia following Hodgkin's disease is associated with a good prognosis.

Acute leukaemia, both myeloid and lymphoblastic, in patients treated for Hodgkin's disease (HD) is thought to have a poor prognosis. We report four adults who developed secondary acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) following chemoradiotherapy for HD. The chromosomal translocation t(4;11) (q21;q23) was found in two patients who received a chemotherapeutic regimen containing the DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide. Three of the four patients are alive and in unmaintained first remission at 3, 5 and 9 years from diagnosis of ALL, two following autologous bone marrow transplantation. These results suggest that ALL following HD may have a good prognosis when treated aggressively.