A Prognostic Score for Advanced Hodgkin's Disease

Since the advent of combination chemotherapy with the MOPP (mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) 1 and ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) regimens, 2 only minor progress has been made in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease, 3 although ABVD or alternating cycles of MOPP and ABVD may have better results than MOPP alone. 4 Current therapies fail to cure about one third of patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease, and a similar proportion of patients may be overtreated. The latter problem is apparent from long-term remissions in patients who stop treatment after two to six cycles of chemotherapy 5 , 6 or who receive reduced treatment in . . .