Journal Of Clinical Oncology (jco) Podcast

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article “PET Score Has Greater Prognostic Significance Than Pre-Treatment Risk Stratification in Early-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma in the UK NCRI RAPID Study” by Barrington et al. My name is Brue Cheson, and I am at Georgetown University Hospital, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. My Hematologic-oncologic specialty is Lymphoma.   Hodgkin lymphoma is clearly one of the most dramatic success stories in modern oncology. More than 90% of patients with limited disease and about 85% with advanced disease are cured using conventional chemotherapy regimens.  As a consequence, current clinical trials are focusing on augmenting or modifying treatment for those at higher risk and decreasing the intensity or duration of therapy for those at a lower risk of treatment failure.   One important question has been: how best to distinguish those disparate groups?  Over the years, various prognostic scoring systems have been devised.  The International Prognostic Sc