Treatment of advanced stage hodgkin lymphoma: Who really needs beacopp?

There is now good evidence that the escalated BEACOPP regimen is more effective in controlling advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma than the widely used ABVD regimen, but the extra efficacy comes at the expense of both short-and long-term toxicity, and there is debate as to whether overall survival is affected. Baseline prognostic factors have proven of limited utility for determining which patients require more intensive therapy and recent studies have sought to use interim FDG-PET evaluation as a means to guide the modulation of treatment, both upwards and downwards in intensity.
Source: Seminars in Hematology - Category: Hematology Authors: Source Type: research