Clinical Surveillance Possible in Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma After Remission

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

When patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) achieve complete remission after frontline therapy, they can either undergo clinical surveillance or routine surveillance imaging. According to a study published in Cancer and partly presented at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, there was not a significant difference in survival rate for patients who underwent clinical surveillance and those who underwent routine surveillance imaging.

Sai Ravi Pingali, MD, and researchers at the University of Nebraska analyzed 241 patients who were diagnosed with cHL and achieved complete remission after frontline therapy. The 174 patients in the routine surveillance imaging group underwent computed tomography and/or positron emission tomography scans. The 67 patients in the clinical surveillance group underwent clinical examinations, laboratory studies, and scans that were only taken due to concerning signs or symptoms. 

After 5 years, the results showed that the routine surveillance imaging group had an overall survival rate of 97% while the clinical surveillance group had an overall survival rate of 9%. Although there were a few relapses, the relapsed patients in both groups achieved complete remission after second-line therapy.

The study indicated that although routine surveillance imaging has higher imaging-related costs, its clinical benefit is on par with clinical surveillance.