With 2 treatment regimens for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma equivalent in their long-term effectiveness, one regimen’s less severe side-effect profile may play a role in treatment choice, according to study results from the Gruppo Italiano di Terapie Innovative nei Linfomi and the Intergruppo Italiano Linfomi.
Alessandro Gianni, MD, of the Milan Cancer Institute and his colleagues compared outcomes in patients randomly assigned to receive either bleomycin/etoposide/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide/vincristing/procarbazine/prednison (BEACOPP) or doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine/dacarbazine(ABVD).
Study results determined:
- The 7-year rate of freedom from first progression was 85% on BEACOPP compared with 73% on ABVD.
- The 7-year survival rate on BEACOPP 89% compared with 84% on ABVD.
- Thus, after salvage therapy, the overall survival outcomes in the two groups were similar, and the ABVD regimen had a clear advantage in terms of side effects.
Moreover, the severe side effects of the BEACOPP therapy (including infertility and the risk of leukemia) were spared from 75% of the patients in the ABVD group who responded to treatment.
Keeping the results of this particular study in mind, in what ways can medical professionals assist patients in comparing outcomes of treatments? Do you feel there is focus only on the primary therapy results, or is there a long-term outlook on the overall health management strategy? Please leave your comments in the section below.
The Hodgkin Lymphoma study findings appear in the July 21 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.