Federico M, Luminari S, Iannitto E et al.
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
J Clin Oncol 2009;27:805–11.
Editor’s note: Hodgkin lymphoma is an inherently chemosensitive disease in which the majority of patients with advanced disease are cured by combination chemotherapy. In most countries, a combination of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) is considered the standard of care as initial therapy. The combination of bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (BEACOPP) is a more intensive regimen that (at an increased dose) has shown superiority in terms of failure-free survival and overall survival rates when compared with a “standard” regimen in those with advanced disease (
N Engl J Med 2003;348;2386–95). However, concerns about BEACOPP toxicity have limited its widespread adoption as the preferred regimen.