Dr. Ghosh on the Role of Bleomycin in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Nilanjan Ghosh, MD, PhD, physician, Levine Cancer Institute, discusses the role of bleomycin in the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

Ghosh says that he and many investigators are actively working on reducing bleomycin exposure or eliminating the agent completely from the frontline setting of Hodgkin lymphoma. Bleomycin can cause significant pulmonary toxicity that can be irreversible in some cases, Ghosh explains.

The recent RATHL trial randomized patients to doxorubicin, vinblastine, vincristine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) versus adriamycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (AVD). Ghosh says that since there was no significant difference in progression-free survival between the 2 groups, bleomycin does not need to be used in these patients. Additionally, most clinicians who are doing PET-adaptive therapy drop bleomycin after 2 cycles if the PET scan is negative.