Long-Term Treatment Outcomes in Patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated with Conventional Therapy

Newer antibody drug conjugates and immunotherapies have improved patient care in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), offering better responses and survival outcomes. However, conventional therapy remains the cornerstone of treatment in HL, consistently delivering reliable outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The present study assessed long-term treatment outcomes in Indian patients with HL. We conducted this observational, ambispective, single centre study over 15 years. Our cohort included patients with pathologically confirmed HL who had received at least one dose of chemotherapy at our institute. We measured long-term treatment outcomes of patients by determining freedom from treatment failure (FFTF) and overall survival (OS). The chi-square test/Fischer's exact test, log-rank test, and Cox proportional models were used for analysis. The study enrolled a total of 495 patients with HL. Most patients were diagnosed at stages IV B (25%) and III B (20%), with 62.6% presenting with B symptoms. Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) were given as first-line Chemotherapy in 96.8% of cases while 42% underwent radiotherapy. A complete response was attained in 53.9% and 89.9% of patients on interim and end-of-therapy PET scans, respectively. Overall 5-year FFTF rate was 79.61%, while the 5-year OS rate was 92.25% with 36 fatalities. Advanced-stage disease and interim PET scan positivity were the major negative prognostic factors for 5-year FFTF. Patients with HL have excellent FFTF and OS even after the long-term use of conventional chemotherapy. These findings reinforce the importance of conventional therapy as the mainstay in long-term HL treatment in resource-constraint settings.