Research Information System
Turkish Journal of Haematology, vol.18, no.1, pp.47-52, 2001 (SCI-Expanded)
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and efficacy of a combined therapy consisting of modified OPPA/COPP chemotherapy plus involved-field radiotherapy (IF-RT) in the treatment of childhood Hodgkin's disease (HD) in a single institution in Turkey. Between 1984 and 1997, 37 children younger than age of 16 years were diagnosed with HD and followed up for a minimum period of 3 years. Most of the cases (81%) were in their first decade and more than half of the patients (56.7%) presented with advanced stages (III-IV) of HD. Mixed cellularity was the most common (70.3%) histopathological subtype, followed by lymphocytic predominance (24.3%). All the patients were stratified into three treatment groups according to the clinical stages (I/IIA, IIB/IIIA and IIIB/IV) and received risk-adapted combined therapy. Median follow-up was 119 months (range 36 to 196). Five-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) for the entire group were 97.3% and 91.9% respectively. In the patients with clinical stages of IIIB/IV Hodgkin's disease, OS and EFS at 5 years were 94.1% and 82.4% respectively. Secondary malignancy and cardiomyopathy were not observed during follow-up. In conclusion, our patient characteristics revealed a developing country pattern of HD and combined modality treatment produced good results for these patients.