Treatment-Related Mortality in Patients With Advanced-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma: An Analysis of the German Hodgkin Study Group

Abstract

Purpose The introduction of BEACOPPescalated (escalated-dose bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) has significantly improved tumor control and overall survival in patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. However, this regimen has also been associated with higher treatment-related mortality (TRM). Thus, we analyzed clinical course and risk factors associated with TRM during treatment with BEACOPPescalated. Patients and Methods In this retrospective analysis, we investigated incidence, clinical features, and risk factors for BEACOPPescalated-associated TRM in the German Hodgkin Study Group trials HD9, HD12, and HD15. Results Among a total of 3,402 patients, TRM of 1.9% (64 of 3,402) was mainly related to neutropenic infections (n = 56; 87.5%). Twenty of 64 events occurred during the first course of BEACOPPescalated (31.3%). Higher risk of TRM was seen in patients age ≥ 40 years with poor performance status (PS) and in patients age ≥ 50 years. PS and age were then used to construct a new risk score; those with a score ≥ 2 had TRM of 7.1%, whereas patients who scored 0 or 1 had TRM of 0.9%. Conclusion The individual risk of TRM associated with BEACOPPescalated can be predicted by a simple algorithm based on age and PS. High-risk patients should receive special clinical attention.