2ND MALIGNANCIES FOLLOWING TREATMENT FOR HODGKINS-DISEASE - A GREEK EXPERIENCE

The risk and the type of second malignancies (SM) developing in 217 tr eated Hodgkin's disease (HD) patients were studied. The median age of the patients was 35 years (range 14-83) and the M/F ratio 1.8. Treatme nt consisted of radiotherapy alone (24 patients, 11%), chemotherapy al one (96 patients, 44.3%), or a combination of both modalities (43 pati ents, 19.8%), while 54 patients (24.9%) received salvage treatment. Th e median follow-up time was 67 months (range 12-224). Ten patients dev eloped a SM with a 5-year and 10-year actuarial risk of 3.3% and 5.4%, respectively. There were 3 cases of ANLL and MDS (actuarial risk of 2 .4% at 6 years), 1 case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 6 cases of solid tumors (actuarial risk of 3.2% at 10 years). The risk of developing S M was higher in males and older patients (> 40 years). SM represent a serious late side effect of successful treatment for HD. The possibili ty of developing a SM must be taken into consideration in the initial treatment of the disease.