ICML 2025 | Using radiotherapy to improve PFS for stage IA nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma

Radiation therapy improves progression-free survival for patients with a rare type of lymphoma called nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma or NLPHL. What is very interesting is that radiation therapy works very well for treating lymphoma. What we have tried to do in the field over time is decide who can have these side effects and late effects avoided and who needs it. So looking at the impact of radiation on survival or progression-free survival is so important so we can help patients and clinicians know who needs it, who will have the benefit. 

So what we showed, we showed that patients with stage 1A disease, meaning it’s only in one spot, who had that area resected or removed, most of them can just be observed and that’s what we used to do. But when we looked at the data, if you radiate just that small area, that postage stamp that has very minimal late effects later in life, you increase their progression-free survival by over 20%. What that means? That means in the era we’re in today, it’s a discussion. Where is that site? What do those risks and benefit trade-offs mean to that patient? And so we’re in an era where this data shows the use of radiation to small areas improves progression-free survival. And it is up to each individual provider to think about what will the risks and benefits be for that site, and what are the values and preferences of the patient. And that’s what we’re showing.

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