I just wanted to let everyone in the Hodgkin's community know about a very large study of Hodgkin's patients that was presented as an abstract in December at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting. The findings are a potentially HUGE deal in treatment for people diagnosed with favorable (A symptoms) early stage (I-II) Hodgkin's.
To make a long story short, the German Hodgkin's Study Group (a global leader in Hodgkin's research) looked at over 1300 people with favorable early stage HL and what they found was that there was no real statistical difference in patient outcome if they received 4 cycles of ABVD or just 2 cycles of ABVD.
The same was true for the amount of radiotherapy they received.
Not only that, but the study followed up with the patients after 90 months and STILL found no significant difference between treatment outcomes.
In short, for people with favorable early stage HL, 2 cycles of ABVD is just as effective as 4 cycles of ABVD. What would it mean to be able to cut your chemo in half without compromising your treatment? Not only that, but dodging that extra chemo presumably will substantially lower your risk of complications many years down the road.
You can access the study's abstract HERE.
