For Patients with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Radiation Therapy Increases Survival

For Patients with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Radiation Therapy Increases Survival

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to new research presented at the American Society of Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO) 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, patients with stage 1 and 2 Hodgkin's lymphoma who receive consolidated radiation therapy (RT) have an increased survival rate compared with those that did not receive RT.

In the study, researchers identified 41,502 patients diagnosed with stage 1 and 2 Hodgkin's lymphoma from 1998 to 2011 from the National Cancer Database (NDCB). About 96% of patients received multi-agent chemotherapy and about half of patients received RT at a median dose of 30.6 Gy. The researchers found that patients who received RT had a 10-year survival rate of 84.4%, while those who did not receive RT had a 10-year survival rate of 76.4% (P<0.00001).

Researchers found that RT use was associated with patients age 40 years or younger, higher socioeconomic status, access to health insurance, and those who were treated at comprehensive cancer centers. Researchers suggest that RT should be considered in patients with stage 1 or 2 Hodgkin's lymphoma who have received multi-agent chemotherapy due to the increased survival benefit.

Patients with lymphoma who receive radiation therapy have an increased survival rate.

Patients with stage I and II Hodgkin’s Disease who receive consolidated radiation therapy (RT) have a higher 10-year survival rate of 84 percent, compared to 76 percent for patients who did not receive RT; and, the data also shows a decrease in utilization of RT, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO’s) 56th Annual Meeting.

Researchers evaluated clinical features and survival outcomes among 41,502 patients diagnosed with stage I and II Hodgkin’s Disease from 1998 to 2011 from a prospectively collected database—the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), which is comprised of cases from 1,500 sites and represents >75 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. The average patient age was 37 (range: 18 – 90), with a median follow-up of 7.5 years. The association between RT use, co-variables and outcome were assessed in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

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