Lower doses of dacarbazine (modified BEACODD) as a safer strategy with equal effectiveness in an intensive treatment protocol of Hodgkin's lymphoma: a preliminary retrospective analysis of a single public center in Brazil.

The German Hodgkin Study Group developed the escalated BEACOPP (bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) protocol as a treatment strategy for advanced-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma. In Brazil, as well as in other countries, procarbazine has been replaced with dacarbazine due to the limited availability of procarbazine. The Hematology Center at Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia in São Paulo adopted and modified the escalated BEACOPP protocol, substituting prednisone with dexamethasone and incorporating two different doses of dacarbazine: 375 mg/m/day on Day 8 or the original dose of 250 mg/m/day on Days 2 and 3.