Occurrence of acute nonlymphocy tic leukemia in a prospective randomized study of treatment for Hodgkinʼs disease

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In a prospective randomized study of treatment with radiation therapy (RT) or RT followed by chemotherapy (CT [vincristine, procarbazine, vinblastine, chlorambucil, prednisone]) for patients with Hodgkin''s disease stages I-III, 4 patients developed acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) during post-treatment follow-up. There was a significant relationship between the intensity of the treatment and the appearance of this complication; no cases of ANLL were observed among the 128 patients treated with involved field (IF) RT, IF RT followed by CT, total nodal RT alone (TNR), or total lymphoid irradiation alone (TLI) after a follow-up from 21-126+ mo. (median follow-up 76 mo.). In contrast, 4 of 36 patients treated with extensive RT followed by CT developed ANLL at 17, 63, 72 and 91 mo. Three of these patients had received TLI + CT and the 4th one TNR + CT.