Late complications of Hodgkin's disease management

Abstract

In the past several decades, Hodgkin's disease has been transformed from a uniformly fatal illness to one that can be treated with the expectation of long-term remission or cure in the majority of patients. Because patients now survive for long periods after curative intervention, various complications have been identified. The spectrum of complications following curative therapy is quite diverse and includes immunologic, cardiovascular, pulmonary, thyroid, and gonadal dysfunction. In addition, second malignant neoplasms in the form of acute leukemia as well as secondary solid tumors have now been documented to occur with increased frequency in patients cured of Hodgkin's disease.