OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical features and to evaluate outcomes and to assess therapeutic effects in 34 children and adolescents with Hodgkin lymphoma treated with risk-adapted combination chemotherapy and low-dose, involved-field radiation therapy (IFRT) in China.

METHODFrom January 2003 to April 2009, 34 hospitalized children with Hodgkin lymphoma were enrolled into the BCH-HL 2003 protocol (revised CCG 5942) in our hospital. Pathological samples were reviewed centrally and classified based on the World Health Organization guidelines. Staging was based on clinical evaluation and was defined by the Ann Arbor staging system. The 34 patients were treated according to the different risk factors in three treatment groups (standard, intermediate, and high risk), and received risk-adapted combination chemotherapy and IFRT. All analyses were calculated by the statistical program SPSS.

RESULTOf the 34 Hodgkin lymphoma patients, 28 were male and 6 were female. The median age was 8.7 years (range from 4 years to 15 years) at the time of diagnosis. In terms of clinical presentation, 53% had bulky lymph nodes, 47.1% had more than 4 node regions involved and 44% had "B" symptoms at presentation. The distribution for stage of disease was 0% for Stage I, 21% for Stage II, 35% for Stage III and 44% for Stage IV disease. All patients had classical histology consisting of three different sub-discipline: 22 cases of mixed cellularity (64.7%). In pathological samples of 25 cases there was EBV encoded RNA (EBER) or latent membrane protein (LMP) staining. The overall survival (OS) was 100% and the 5-year event-free survival was 94.1% with a median follow-up of (26.1 ± 16.3) months. Two patients had early relapse after treatment was finished. Organ toxicity was limited to hematological grades III and IV at rates of 40% and 71% respectively.

CONCLUSIONChildhood Hodgkin lymphoma in our study was more frequently seen in male school aged children. Combined-modality therapy using risk-adapted chemotherapy with radiation is effective and well tolerated. The overall prognosis was good.