Treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma

Summary: Treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is based on chemotherapy. Radiotherapy is used for consolidative purposes, including primary sites of the disease at the stage I-II according to Ann Arbor scale or initial bulky disease and/or residual masses after chemotherapy at the stage III - IV. High dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT) is indicated in relapsed or refractory disease. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) and monoclonal antibodies are still under evaluation at early phases of clinical trials. The only clinical indication for the latter (anti-CD20) is non-classical lymphocyte predominance HL (HL-NLP). In addition and in contrast to classical type of the disease, HL-NLP at its very limited stage (lA) can be solely treated with radiotherapy. This paper is the last out of three parts concerning the updated knowledge on Hodgkin lymphoma. Etiopathogenesis was presented in the first part (Acta Haematol Pol 2003, 34, 277 - 286), and histopathological classification and prognostic factors in the second review (Acta Haematol Pol 2003, 34, 433 - 446). (authors)