The benefit of consolidation radiotherapy to initial disease bulk in patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease who achieved complete remission after standard chemotherapy.

Background/purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of consolidation radiotherapy (RT) in advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease (HD) with initial bulky sites after radiological complete remission (CR) or partial response (PR) with positron emission tomography-negative (metabolic CR) following standard chemotherapy (ABVD [Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine]) six to eight cycles.

Patients And Methods: Adult patients with advanced-stage HD treated at our institute during the period 2006 to 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. One hundred and ninety-two patients with initial bulky disease size (>7 cm) who attained radiological CR/PR and metabolic CR were included in the analysis.