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Abstract: Objectives : To investigate the prognosis of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) who relapse following a complete remission (CR) achieved by chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy (CT±RT), and to identify prognostic factors for freedom from second progression (FF 2 P). Methods : We analyzed the prognostic significance of the initial CT regimen (4 vs. 7–8 drugs), treatment-free interval (TFI), and demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors at the time of relapse and diagnosis, in 113 patients with HL, who relapsed after a CR achieved by CT±RT. Results : Conventional salvage CT±RT was administered in 107 patients, while six received RT only. The 5-yr FF 2 P was 24%, while the 10-yr survival after relapse (O 2 S) was 39% and was not afffected by the initial CT regimen. Multivariate analysis revealed that extranodal disease at relapse ( P <0.001), TFI<6 month ( P <0.001), >=5 involved sites at diagnosis ( P =0.04) and anemia at relapse ( P =0.03) were independent predictors of FF 2 P. 55% of patients had 0 or 1 of these adverse prognostic factors. The 5-yr FF 2 P of patients with 0, 1 or 2 adverse factors was 58%, 34% and 5% ( P <0.0001). The corresponding rates for 10-yr O 2 S were 68%, 51% and 25%, respectively ( P =0.002). Conclusions: Our data confirmed the significance of TFI and extranodal relapse and demonstrated a potential role for anemia at relapse and number of involved sites at diagnosis, for the prognosis of patients with HL relapsing after CT±RT. The combination of these prognostic factors defines a sizeable subgroup of patients with favorable outcome following conventional salvage therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]