Hodgkin's Disease - Treatment Options by Stage

Stage IV Hodgkin's Disease

Disease has spread to organs outside the lymph system, such as liver, lung, or bone marrow. Even in this population, high long-term survival rates of over 85% are possible, including in children.

Treatment may include:

Chemotherapy alone
Chemotherapy with limited radiation to places of bulky disease
A clinical trial of novel chemotherapy regimens or of stem-cell transplantation

Click the icon to see an image of liver involvement in Hodgkin's disease.

Relapsed or Refractory Hodgkin's Disease

When disease recurs or persists after initial treatment either in the same area or in another part of the body, the next round of therapy depends on where the disease returns and the previous treatment used.

If the previous treatment was radiation therapy without chemotherapy, salvage chemotherapy is the usual choice.
If the patient was previously treated with chemotherapy, then the choice may be radiation therapy to the lymph nodes with or without salvage chemotherapy.
In some patients, if the disease has persisted or if relapse has occurred after chemotherapy with or without radiation, high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation may be given.