Review of British National Lymphoma Investigation studies of Hodgkin's disease and development of prognostic index

Abstract

A review of data from the British National Lymphoma Investigation (BNLI) studies of Hodgkin's disease (HD) done over the past 14 years shows (i) that systemic chemotherapy is appropriate for all clinical stages except I and IIA, and that MOPP (mustine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) courses are substantially more effective than MOP (the same without prednisone) but no better than the less toxic LOPP combinations (where chlorambucil replaces mustine); (ii) that local involved-field irradiation in stages I and IIA HD is as effective as wide-field in terms of both overall and recurrence-free survival; and (iii) that, histologically, nodular sclerosing HD can be divided into grades 1 and 2, the latter containing areas of lymphocyte depletion or numerous pleomorphic Hodgkin's cells. A multivariate analysis of factors influencing prognosis in clinical stages I and IIA disease shows that laparotomy has no significant effect but that age, sex, erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), the presence or absence of mediastinal involvement and, especially, pathological grade are the most important factors influencing overall survival, while ESR, pathological grade, and stage of disease (I or II) correlate with recurrence-free time. A prognostic "survival" index was developed; an index of greater than 7.5 indicated a poor prognosis and that chemotherapy was perhaps more appropriate than local radiation. Laparotomy is no longer justified as a routine procedure in staging HD, although it may still be useful in special circumstances and in some research investigations.