Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after primary Hodgkin's disease in the German Hodgkin's Lymphoma Study Group: incidence, treatment, and prognosis.

Purpose: The cumulative incidence for non-Hodgkin lymphoma's (NHL) after primary Hodgkin's disease (HD) ranges between 1% and 6%. To investigate the course of disease for secondary NHL, we retrospectively analyzed patients treated within clinical trials of the German Hodgkin's Lymphoma Study Group (GHSG) since 1981.

Patients And Methods: From 1981 to 1998, the GHSG conducted three generations of clinical trials for the treatment of primary HD involving a total of 5,406 patients.