Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Radiation Therapy in Treating Young Patients With Favorable-Risk Hodgkin Lymphoma

This phase II trial is studying how well combination chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy works in treating young patients with favorable-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin hydrochloride, vinblastine, mechlorethamine hydrochloride, vincristine sulfate, bleomycin, etoposide, and prednisone, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more cancer cells. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells for those patients that still had residual cancer at the end of chemotherapy. Giving combination chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more cancer cells and allow doctors to save the part of the body where the cancer started.

Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride intravenously (IV) and vinblastine IV on day 1 of weeks 1, 3, 5, and 7; mechlorethamine hydrochloride IV on day 1 of weeks 1 and 5; vincristine sulfate IV and bleomycin IV on day 1 of weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8; etoposide IV on day 1 of weeks 3 and 7; and prednisone orally (PO) three times daily every other day for 8 weeks. Two to 3 weeks after all chemotherapy is given, patients not achieving a complete response undergo radiation therapy to individual nodal sites (tailored fields).

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

1. To increase the complete response rate of favorable risk patients (excluding all patients with stage IA nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma) after 8 weeks Stanford V by at least 20% compared to favorable risk patients on HOD 99 after 8 weeks vincristine, doxorubicin hydrochloride, methotrexate and prednisone (VAMP).

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

1. To estimate the disease failure rate within the radiation fields.
2. To examine patterns of treatment failure for children treated with low dose tailored field radiation therapy.
3. To describe acute hematologic and infectious toxicities as they relate to transfusion requirements, growth factor support, episodes of febrile neutropenia, and hospitalizations, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 3.0.
4. To compare the survival distributions (event-free and overall) and cumulative incidence of local failure and toxicities of favorable risk patients treated with 8 weeks of Stanford V chemotherapy and low-dose tailored-field radiation to those on the favorable risk group of the HOD 99 study that received VAMP and low-dose involved-field radiation.
5. To compare the survival distributions between patients that will not be prescribed radiotherapy after 8 weeks Stanford V and those patients on HOD 99 that did not receive radiotherapy after VAMP.
6. To estimate the event-free survival distributions of favorable risk patients treated with Stanford V chemotherapy alone and patients treated with Stanford V chemotherapy plus low dose tailored field radiation.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed, previously untreated Hodgkin lymphoma.
* Age: Participants must be 21 years of age or younger
* Stage must be classified as one of the following:

Ann Arbor stage IA or IIA with:

* Non-bulky mediastinal disease (\< 33% mediastinal to thoracic ratio on CXR)
* \< 3 nodal regions involved on the same side of the diaphragm
* No "E" lesion
* Female patients who are post-menarchal must have a negative pregnancy test. Patients of reproductive potential must agree to use an effective contraceptive method.
* Signed informed consent
* If re-evaluation of a patient's disease shows intermediate risk features, the patient will be removed from the HOD08.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Intermediate or High risk disease, defined as Stage IB, any III or IV or IA/IIA with "E" lesion(s), 3 or more nodal sites involved, or bulky mediastinal adenopathy