The eight-drug/radiation therapy program (MOPP/ABDV/RT) for advanced Hodgkin's disease: a follow-up report

Eighty-four evaluable patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease (Stages IIB, IIIA age greater than 35 or mixed cellularity or lymphocyte depletion histology, IIIB, IVA, and IVB) were treated with alternating monthly MOPP and Adriamycin, bleomycin, dacarbazine, and vinblastine (ABDV). Radiation therapy (RT), 2000 rads in two weeks, was given to areas of initial bulky disease in untreated patients. Complete remission (CR) rates were 80% for previously untreated, 65% for prior RT or minimal chemotherapy treated, and 50% for heavily pretreated patients. Among 49 previously untreated patients there were no primary treatment failures. The estimated two-year relapse rate for the CR group was 9%. The therapeutic effectiveness of this program may have been due to either or both of the following elements: (1) two non-cross-resistant drug combinations, (2) low dose adjuvant RT to initial sites of bulky disease. These early results are among the best reported for the treatment of advanced Hodgkin's disease.