Targeted therapies for Hodgkin lymphoma: results of recent trials

Many patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) can be cured with standard chemotherapy with high long term survival rates¹⁾. Considering the increased risks of various toxicities following therapy, options are evolving towards avoidance of radiation and reduction of therapy duration, with results similar to those currently achieved with improved quality of life^{2, 3)}. However, 20-30% of patients still develop recurrence during or following initial therapy, depending upon what chemotherapy regimen is administered⁴⁾. Investigators have recently described new agents that have produced significant responses in this latter group of patients. In this report, we describe some of these studies, with an emphasis on response and tolerability.