Comparing long-term toxicity and efficacy of combined modality treatment including extended- or involved-field radiotherapy in early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Background: To evaluate long-term toxicity and efficacy of a combined modality strategy including extended-field radiotherapy (EF-RT) or involved-field radiotherapy (IF-RT), the German Hodgkin Study Group carried out a follow-up analysis in patients with early unfavorable Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).

Patients And Methods: One thousand two hundred and four patients were randomized to four cycles of chemotherapy followed by either 30 Gy EF- or 30 Gy IF-RT (HD8 trial); 532 patients in each treatment arm were eligible.

Results: At 10 years, no arm differences were revealed with respect to freedom from treatment failure (FFTF) (79.