if i used to have the hodgkin's disease and i 've just completed my chemotherapy(ABVD), can i restart again? if yes what are the factor determine the decision? If not, is there any other alternative? as your lymphoma returned after ABVD?. If it has come back shortly after completing treatment, then there is no point in giving ABVD again. You will need high dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplant. Its not too bad. Around 50-60% people will be cured with it.
Regarding your question about receiving ABVD, there is only so much adriamycin you can take due to its effect on the heart. Usually limiting dose is around 350-400mg/m2. In standard ABVD you get 50mg/m2 of adriamycin every cycle. So if you already got 6-8 cycles (standard) then u have received 300-400mg/m2, so there is not much room left for additional cycles. The limiting factor in chemotherapy regimens that contain anthracyclines (namely doxorubicin "adriamycin") is that heart damage is more likely to occur if you receive more than a certain dose. This risk is increased if you have received radiation therapy to the chest/mediastinum.
Also, if there is evidence that the disease progressed while on ABVD, that usually means that the Hodgkin Disease is resistant to that combination, and any further administration of the same drugs would not bring about cure - just expose the patient to unnecessary toxicity.
There are other combinations out there for Hodgkin Disease - just which ones would be chosen depends on prior treatment. I think the guy above me is really intelligent and sounds like he knows what he is talking about. In the meantime hip hip hooray! You completed your chemotherapy!!!!
Oncology RN X 12 years. | 