Long-term toxicities following treatment for Hodgkin's disease

In recent years, continuous optimization of therapy has decisively improved the prognosis of Hodgkin's disease. However, this improvement in overall s urvival has also led to an increase in several possible late effects which the clinician must bt an are of. Due to the appearance of chronic fatigue s ymptoms, cardiopulmonary problems, hypothyreosis and damage to the gonadal system including azoospermia and ovarial insufficiency, the mostly young pa tients often suffer a persistent reduction in quality of life. In addition, the increased incidence of second malignancies following successful primar y treatment presents a considerable problem. While complete remission and prolonged survival were previously thr main ob jectives in the therapy of malignant lymphomas, reduction or avoidance of t oxicity is now becoming more and more central. This development has led to dir increasing importance of late sequelae and quality of life as endpoints in modern therapy trials in oncology.