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Clinical presentation and outcome in lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's disease
1Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Insights
Lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's disease (LPHD) patients present differently and have favorable outcomes with standard treatment. Less aggressive therapy may reduce long-term complications while maintaining excellent results for LPHD.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Pathology
Background:
- Lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's disease (LPHD) is a distinct subtype of Hodgkin's disease (HD).
- Understanding LPHD presentation and outcomes is crucial for tailored treatment strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presentation patterns, histologic subtypes (nodular vs. diffuse), treatments, and long-term outcomes of LPHD.
- To determine if LPHD warrants different treatment compared to other HD subtypes.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 97 patients initially diagnosed with LPHD (1970-1993).
- Pathology re-evaluation confirmed 75 LPHD cases; 55 nodular, 14 diffuse.
- Analysis of treatment outcomes for 71 patients treated at the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy (JCRT) with a median follow-up of 10.8 years.
Main Results:
- 10-year freedom-from-relapse (FFR) was 80% and overall survival was 93% for LPHD patients.
- FFR varied by histology: 74% (nodular), 100% (diffuse), 60% (unspecified).
- Most deaths were due to second cancers or cardiac issues, not HD itself.
Conclusions:
- LPHD patients exhibit unique presentation patterns and a lower mortality rate compared to nodular-sclerosing or mixed-cellularity HD.
- Standard treatment yields low mortality, with late deaths linked to cardiac disease or secondary malignancies.
- Consideration of less aggressive treatment for LPHD may reduce long-term complications while preserving favorable outcomes.
Purpose:
The patterns of presentation, histologic pattern (nodular or diffuse), treatment, and long-term outcome were studied in patients with lymphocyte-predominant (LP) Hodgkin's disease (HD) to determine whether these patients should be treated differently than patients with other subtypes of HD.
Patients And Methods:
Pathology was reviewed for 97 patients with an initial diagnosis of LPHD made between 1970 and 1993. Seventy-five patients had LPHD on review: 55 had nodular LPHD, 14 had diffuse LPHD, and six had LP histology without subclassification. There were 60 males (80%) and 15 females (20%). Sixty-six patients (88%), presented with clinical stage (CS) I or II disease. Seventy-one patients were treated at the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy (JCRT) and were considered for analysis of treatment outcome. Sixty-one of these 71 were treated with radiation (RT) alone; 17 received mantle RT alone, 27 mantle and paraaortic RT, and seven total-nodal irradiation (TNI). Ten patients with subdiaphragmatic HD received pelvic and paraaortic RT. Of the 10 remaining patients, four were treated with RT and chemotherapy (CT) and six were treated with CT alone. The median follow-up time was 10.8 years.
Results:
The 10-year actuarial freedom-from-first-relapse (FFR) and 10-year overall survival rates for the 71 patients with LPHD treated at the JCRT were 80% and 93%, respectively. The 10-year actuarial FFR by nodular (n = 51), diffuse (n = 14), and unspecified (n = 6) histologic pattern was 74%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. Overall, 14 of 71 patients have relapsed: nine of 61 with stage IA, IB, or IIA disease and five of 10 with stage IIB to IVB disease have relapsed. The median time to relapse was 53 months. Nine of 71 patients have died. Only one death has been from HD: five patients died of second cancers, two of cardiac disease, and one of alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Of seven patients with second malignancies, five died. None of the second malignancies were non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).
Conclusion:
Patients with LPHD have different patterns of presentation, sex and age distribution, and likelihood of occult abdominal disease than patients with nodular-sclerosing (NS) or mixed-cellularity (MC) disease. The median time to relapse for LP patients was later than reported for other histologic subtypes; however, there was no pattern of continuous late relapse. With pathologic staging and standard treatment, mortality from LPHD is low; nearly all deaths have been cardiac- or second tumor-related. This suggests that less aggressive treatment for LPHD might continue to yield excellent results, while perhaps lowering the long-term risk of complications.