Eight cycles of BEACOPP(escalated) (escalated dose of bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) followed by radiotherapy (RT) to initial bulk or residual tumor mass is the German Hodgkin Study Group standard of care for advanced-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). However, treatment-related toxicity is a concern, and the role of RT in this setting is unclear.
The HD12 study thus aimed to reduce toxicity while maintaining efficacy. Patients and Methods: In this prospectively randomized multicenter trial, eight cycles of BEACOPP(escalated) was compared with four cycles of BEACOPP(escalated) followed by four cycles of the baseline dose of BEACOPP (BEACOPP(baseline); 4 + 4), and RT with no RT in the case of initial bulk or residual disease.
The study was designed to exclude a difference in 5-year freedom from treatment failure (FFTF) rate of 6%