Salvage chemotherapy in Hodgkin's disease irradiation failures: superiority of doxorubicin-containing regimens over MOPP.

One hundred and twenty-two consecutive patients with Hodgkin's disease who relapsed after primary curative irradiation were treated with either MOPP (mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) or a doxorubicin-containing regimen (ADM-Reg). The main pretreatment characteristics were comparable in the two groups. Complete remission was achieved in 74.6% of patients treated with MOPP (44 of 59) and in 90.5% of those given ADM-Reg (57 of 63). No difference was observed in the incidence of complete remission with regard to the type of ADM-Reg utilized [MABOP (mechlorethamine, doxorubicin, bleomycin, vincristine, and prednisone), 92.9%; ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine), 95.6%; and MOPP alternated with ABVD, 84.6%]. The superiority of ADM-Reg versus MOPP was also confirmed in the 7-year analysis of freedom from disease progression (73.2% vs 42.2%), relapse-free survival (81.2% vs 54.3%), and overall survival (80.5% vs 44.4%). Thrombocytopenia was less frequently observed with ADM-Reg (30%), particularly following ABVD (13%), compared to MOPP (73%). The lowest incidence of alopecia occurred in patients given MOPP (15%) or MOPP/ABVD (19%). Acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia was observed in patients treated with MOPP (five of 59) and MABOP (one of 14). The observed findings indicate that in patients failing to respond to primary radiotherapy, salvage regimens containing doxorubicin are more effective than MOPP. Furthermore, combinations devoid of procarbazine and alkylating agents (ABVD) or with less intensive administration of these drugs (MOPP/ABVD) were not associated with secondary leukemia.