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Hodgkin lymphoma represents one of the major successes of modern oncology. Several decades ago, it was fatal in most patients. With the development of the combination therapy mechlorethamine, vincristine, prednisone, and procarbazine (MOPP), many patients were cured of this disease. However, the regimen was associated with an unacceptable risk of acute toxicities, infertility, and secondary malignancies.1 Several subsequent studies established adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) as the standard treatment because of its greater efficacy and less toxicity compared with MOPP.2 As a result, about 90% of patients with limited-stage disease are now cured, as are 60% of those with advanced disease. Newer regimens such as bleomycin, etoposide, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, prednisone, and procarbazine (BEACOPP) seem to prolong time to treatment failure, but with considerably greater toxicity,3 and with no clear improvement in overall survival. A minority of patients who are either refractory to initial treatment or who subsequently relapse can be cured with such modalities as stem-cell transplantation. However, few effective options are available for the remainder of patients...

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(See Community Translations, “Bretuximab vedotin in Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma”)