Sebastian de Armas

and 7 more

Background: ABVD, the standard-of-care in adult Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), has not been directly compared to ABVE-PC, a pediatric regimen designed to reduce late-effects. We aimed to compare the effectiveness and associated toxicities of these two regimens used in the same institution. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated a total of 224 patients diagnosed with HL between 1999 and 2018 at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), of which 93 patients were eligible having received ABVD (n=46) or ABVE-PC (n=47) chemotherapy as their initial treatment. Descriptive analyses were performed using the Student’s t-test or Fisher’s exact test. Survival analysis used the Kaplan-Meier method. Events included: death, relapse, secondary malignancy, need for radiation therapy, pulmonary toxicity and cardiomyopathy determined by shortening fraction <29%. Analyses followed an intention-to-treat principle. Results: There was no difference in baseline characteristics between the patients receiving ABVE-PC or ABVD in regard for stage, risk group or prognostic variables, such as the presence or absence of “B” symptoms, bulky disease, and extra-nodal involvement. A greater proportion of patients treated with ABVE-PC received consolidating external beam radiation treatment (XRT) either by randomization or by response compared to ABVD (59.6% vs 32.6% respectively, p=0.01). While not statistically significant, response to therapy, assessed by PET/CT where available, mirrored the need for radiation (rapid response 58.3% vs 90.0%, n=34, p=0.11). There was no difference in event-free survival (p=0.63) or overall survival (p=0.37) with a median follow up length of 3.9 years. Conclusion: ABVD and ABVE-PC achieved similar survival outcomes in our single-institution cohort