Second lethal events associated with treatment for Hodgkin's disease:: A review of 2980 patients treated in a single Mexican institute

Presence of second neoplasms and cardiac toxicity has been recognized as potential late lethal second events in patients treated for Hodgkin's disease. However, most reports analyze these association independently. We reviewed 2980 cases of patients treated during 1970-1995 with long-term follow-up (> 4 years) in an attempt to identify all late events in Hodgkin's disease secondary to the treatment or those which are unrelated. Three hundred and ten patients died, and of these 156 were secondary to relapse and tumor progression. Death associated second tumors and cardiac events were increased 37 fold and 29 fold respectively compared to the general population. The risk factors for this complications did not differ to previous reports and included alkylating agents and/or radiotherapy for second neoplasms and anthracycline therapy and radiotherapy for cardiac toxicity. Moreover, 61 patients died secondary to non-related events. Nevertheless, at 20-years overall survival was 90 % (95 % confidence interval (CI): 78 % to 97 %) and event free survival was 88 % (95 % CI: 76 % to 96 %) for these patients. Thus, second events, fatal in most cases, should be considered as an expected risk to the treatment in patients with Hodgkin's disease: the proposed modifications of therapy may indeed be useful to avoid or diminish these complications in the future.