Hodgkin's Lymphoma Treated

Stage I and IIA disease may be treated with radiation alone if the tumor is not bulky and the prognostic factors are favorable. More advanced disease requires adjuvant chemotherapy. Combinations include three or more of the following: mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone (MOPP), doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD).

What is the risk of a second cancer in patients successfully treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma?
It is higher. The more common of these second cancers are lung, breast, sarcoma, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Patients who received radiation therapy to the cervical area require annual thyroid function testing to detect radiation-induced hypothyroidism. Young women who received thoracic radiation require screening for breast cancer. Annual mammography should be started 10 years after treatment but no later than age 40 years.