Bates JE, et al. – Experts aspired to delineate benefit from the inclusion of radiation therapy in the treatment of patients with stage III classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). For patients with advanced stage HL, this study supported at least a cautionary approach to omitting radiotherapy (RT) from treatment strategies.

Methods

• Restricting the search to patients with stage III classical HL diagnosed from 2004 to 2012, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were queried to examine the difference in overall and cause-specific survival (OS and CSS) between patients who did or did not receive RT.

Results

• As compared to those treated without RT (5-year OS 91.6% with RT compared to 71.4% without RT, HR=0.34, p<0.001) and CSS (5-year OS 95.4% with RT compared to 84.7% without RT, HR=0.32, p<0.001), patients treated with RT had improved OS and CSS.
• Except for older adults (>64 years), a benefit in OS and/or CSS was seen in all patient subgroups.