Second Cancers after Hodgkin's Disease in Childhood

Abstract

The treatment of Hodgkin's disease is a model of successful therapy for childhood cancer, with cure rates of over 90 percent expected from chemotherapy regimens and low-dose radiation (15 to 25 Gy) to involved regions.1 The current therapy evolved to minimize previously recognized late effects of treatment, such as growth retardation and secondary malignant tumors. In this issue of the Journal, Bhatia et al.,2 representing the Late Effects Study Group, report that second cancers developed 18 times more often in patients who received treatment for Hodgkin's disease before the age of 16 years than would be expected in the general . . .