Dr. Allen on Treatment Options in Advanced-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma

Pamela Blair Allen, MD, MSc, assistant professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, Winship Cancer Institute, discusses treatment options in advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

Currently, the most common treatment approach in North America is PET-directed chemotherapy with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD).

However, data from the phase III ECHELON-1 trial suggested that patients with high-risk factors, such as stage IV disease, extranodal disease, and B symptoms, may benefit from the addition of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to ABVD without bleomycin (AVD).

In addition to risk factors, age should be considered as elderly patients are less likely to benefit from A+AVD and more likely to experience increased toxicity with the regimen, concludes Allen.