[Stage I or II Hodgkin's disease: more chemotherapy and less irradiation]

In Hodgkin's disease stage I or II, excellent survival rates have been reached by radiotherapy alone as well as by the combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, patients surviving for longer than 10 to 15 years are at risk for late complications due to the irradiation, such as myocardial infarction and lung and breast cancer. The current treatment strategy is aimed at minimising these late effects without jeopardizing the good survival rates. Randomized trials, such as the Hodgkin trials of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), are the only way to ultimately determine the relative values of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Every Hodgkin patient deserves being included in such a trial, because the survival results are optimal. In future clinical trials, radiotherapy alone will probably be replaced by chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy as the principal treatment modality.