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Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a malignancy of the lymphatic system with an incidence of 2-3/100 000/year in Europe and North America. The disease generally occurs in all age groups, but young adults are most often affected. Thus, adolescents aged 15 or 16 to 21 represent a relevant portion of patients. The optimum treatment for this age group is undefined. Both pediatric protocols such as OEPA (vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, adriamycin) or ABVE-PC (adriamycin, bleomycin, vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, cyclophosphamide) and adult regimens such as ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) or BEACOPP (bleomycin, etoposide, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone) have been shown to be safe and active, resulting in long-term survival rates of 80% and more. However, a prospective comparison of pediatric and adult treatment strategies in terms of efficacy and other important questions such as treatment-related acute and long-term toxicity has not been undertaken so far. This review aims at shedding some light on potential treatment approaches for adolescents with HL and includes more recent analyses in this patient group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pixantrone is a potentially more effective, less cardiotoxic alternative to doxorubicin for patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (aNHL). This phase I/II non-comparative study evaluated pixantrone in place of doxorubicin in the standard CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone), i.e. CPOP (cyclophosphamide, pixantrone, vincristine, and prednisone), in patients with relapsed aNHL who had previously received CHOP ±± rituximab. Patients were administered pixantrone on day 1 of each 21-day cycle. Phase I ( n == 35) dose escalation from 80 mg/m2 to 180 mg/m2 established the phase II ( n == 30) dose as 150 mg/m2. In phase II, 20 patients (67%%) received all six planned cycles. The objective response rate was 73%%, complete response/complete response unconfirmed (CR/CRu) rate was 47%%, and median overall survival was 17.9 months. Myelosuppression was nearly universal. Six patients (20%%) developed febrile neutropenia. Overall, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) declines ≥≥10%% occurred in 14 patients; declines seemed transient and unrelated to dose. Symptomatic cardiac failure occurred in four patients; however, pre-existing conditions confounded causality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]