BMSEHA15
Published online 30 November 2009
Haematologica, Vol 95, Issue 3, 494-500 doi:10.3324/haematol.2009.015644
Copyright © 2010 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
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Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Combined modality treatment improves tumor control and overall survival in patients with early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a systematic review

Christine Herbst1, Fareed A. Rehan1, Corinne Brillant1, Julia Bohlius2, Nicole Skoetz1, Holger Schulz1, Ina Monsef1, Lena Specht3, Andreas Engert1

1 Department I of Internal Medicine, Cochrane Haematological Malignancies Group (CHMG), University Hospital Cologne, Germany;
2 Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland and
3 Department of Oncology and Hematology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Correspondence: Andreas Engert, Department I of Internal Medicine, Cochrane Haematological Malignancies Group (CHMG), University Hospital Cologne, Kerpener Strasse 62, 50924 Cologne, Germany. E-mail: a.engert{at}uni-koeln.de

Combined modality treatment (CMT) of chemotherapy followed by localized radiotherapy is standard treatment for patients with early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma. However, the role of radiotherapy has been questioned recently and some clinical study groups advocate chemotherapy only for this indication. We thus performed a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing chemotherapy alone with CMT in patients with early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma with respect to response rate, tumor control and overall survival (OS). We searched Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library as well as conference proceedings from January 1980 to February 2009 for randomized controlled trials comparing chemotherapy alone versus the same chemotherapy regimen plus radiotherapy. Progression free survival and similar outcomes were analyzed together as tumor control. Effect measures used were hazard ratios for OS and tumor control as well as relative risks for complete response (CR). Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan5. Five randomized controlled trials involving 1,245 patients were included. The hazard ratio (HR) was 0.41 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25 to 0.66) for tumor control and 0.40 (95% CI 0.27 to 0.59) for OS for patients receiving CMT compared to chemotherapy alone. CR rates were similar between treatment groups. In sensitivity analyses another 6 trials were included that did not fulfill the inclusion criteria of our protocol but were considered relevant to the topic. These trials underlined the results of the main analysis. In conclusion, adding radiotherapy to chemotherapy improves tumor control and OS in patients with early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Key words: combined modality treatment, chemotherapy, Hodgkin’s lymphoma.