The achievements of the EORTC Lymphoma Group

From 1964 onwards. the EORTC Lymphoma Group has conducted seven consecutive randomised phase 3 trials on earls stage Hodgkin's lymphoma aiming at increasing efficacy. while decreasing short- and long-term toxicity. Staging laparotomy is definitely abandoned and replaced by identification of prognostic subgroups based on pretreatment clinical characteristics. Event-free and overall survival significantly improved from about 50 and then 70%. in the early years. to over 80 and then 90% more recently. Radiotherapy fields have become more restricted, whereas chemotherapy has become standard. Longitudinal quality-of-life assessment has become an integral part of our studies. In advanced stages, overall outcome has improved as well with 6-year survival rates of over 80%. In aggressive types of NHL, the second generation chemotherapy schedule CHVmP-BV as superior to CHVmP. We could not show am advantage for intensification of upfront treatment,with autologous stem Cell transplantation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.