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Supradiaphragmatic early stage Hodgkin's disease: does mantle radiation therapy still have a role?

Extended field radiation therapy represents the main therapeutic option in early stage Hodgkin's disease with favorable prognostic features. Its role however has recently been criticized, mainly due to the high incidence of late complications in irradiated tissues. Furthermore, surgical staging, which in the opinion of many is mandatory for proper selection of patients for radiotherapy alone, has a well-known morbidity, and splenectomy has been associated with a high risk of secondary leukemias. Lastly, the failure rate after radiotherapy only is not negligible and second-line treatment is not always successful. A review of our experience and of the recent literature has allowed us to refute these objections. The results of radiotherapy, when properly performed, are highly reliable and have been reproducible in many Institutions. Chemotherapy alone cannot yet be regarded as an alternative to radiotherapy in these patients since data reported on this issue are conflicting. Present knowledge regarding the relationship between clinical features and the risk of occult subdiaphragmatic spread allows patients with localized disease to be selected without surgical staging; the results of radiotherapy in clinically staged patients confirm this statement. Concern for the late effects in irradiated tissues is justified, and future efforts should be directed at reducing the toxicity of this treatment. Associating a short chemotherapy course with low-dose radiotherapy to involved sites could help to achieve this goal.