[Primary treatment of early stage Hodgkin's disease]

Until the beginning of the 1990s, early stage Hodgkin's disease had been treated by (involved field) radiotherapy in most cases. Since the mid-1990s, by revealing a range of prognostic factors and late complications of radiotherapy, the treatment protocol has been modified. The use of combined modality therapy (programmed combined use of chemo- and radiotherapy) has gained ground. At present, in early stage Hodgkin's disease, 2-6 cycles ABVD followed by decreased dose involved field irradiation is considered to be the standard treatment. The number of chemotherapy cycles depends on the prognostic factors and reaction time. In cases of early stage nodular lymphocyte predominance with good prognosis, only involved field irradiation therapy is used.