Salvage therapy in Hodgkin's lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a commonly cured malignancy. Unfortunately, patients who are refractory to or relapse after first-line treatment pose a significant therapeutic challenge. There is evidence that these patients are best treated with an approach involving salvage chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant (HDCT/ASCT). This approach may result in cure, with better results in patients with low-risk relapse. In patients with high-risk relapse and refractory disease, HDCT/ASCT is rarely curative. More aggressive transplant approaches have shown promising results in this group and are currently under active investigation. For those relapsing after HDCT/ASCT, there exists a range of therapeutic options, including further salvage chemotherapy, reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation, monoclonal antibody therapy, and novel agents. All patients in this category should be considered for enrollment in clinical trials. This review discusses the evidence behind the current practice in patients with relapsed or refractory HL. Specifically, the efficacy of various salvage chemotherapy regimens, the risk factors influencing outcome with HDCT/ASCT, and the results with alternative transplant approaches, monoclonal antibody therapies, and novel agents are addressed. We conclude by providing our approach to these patients, with the hope that this will serve as a framework for the practicing oncologist.