Treatment pathways and clinical outcomes in Hodgkin lymphoma outside Europe and North America: results from the international, multicenter, retrospective, B-HOLISTIC study

Information on Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is mostly limited to Europe and North America. This real-world, retrospective study assessed treatment pathways and clinical outcomes in adults with stage IIB–IV classical HL receiving frontline treatment (n = 1598) or relapsed/refractory HL (RRHL, n = 426) in regions outside Europe and North America between January 2010 and December 2013. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) in the RRHL group. Among patients with RRHL, 89.0% received salvage chemotherapy; most common regimen was etoposide, methylprednisolone, cytarabine, cisplatin (ESHAP; 26.3%). Median PFS in the RRHL group was 13.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.9–20.2) and was longer in patients with vs. without stem cell transplantation (SCT; 20.6 vs. 7.5 months; p = 0.0071). This large-scale study identified a lower PFS for RRHL in the rest of the world compared with Europe and North America, highlighting the need for novel targeted therapies and SCT earlier in the treatment continuum. Clinical trial registration: NCT03327571.