BEACOPP

BEACOPP is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma developed by the German Hodgkin Study Group used for patients in Stages > II or early (IA or IB) with unfavorable risk factors. Patients typically receive treatment in cycles of 21 days with no drugs given on days 15–21.There also exists a more intensive regimen with cycles of 14 days. Usually a course of BEACOPP therapy consists of four, sometimes six to eight cycles, or in combination with ABVD. In some countries BEACOPP still is experimental, in others (e.g. Germany and Austria) it is a standard therapy. In the United States, ABVD (or Stanford V) is generally given instead, because BEACOPP is perceived by practicing oncologists to have the potential to induce more secondary neoplasias (such as leukemias). However, the final results from the GHSG HD14 trial indicate that 'therewere no overall differences in treatment-related mortality or secondary malignancies' of BEACOPP relative to ABVD. BEACOPP is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma developed by the German Hodgkin Study Group used for patients in Stages > II or early (IA or IB) with unfavorable risk factors. Patients typically receive treatment in cycles of 21 days with no drugs given on days 15–21.There also exists a more intensive regimen with cycles of 14 days. Usually a course of BEACOPP therapy consists of four, sometimes six to eight cycles, or in combination with ABVD. In some countries BEACOPP still is experimental, in others (e.g. Germany and Austria) it is a standard therapy. In the United States, ABVD (or Stanford V) is generally given instead, because BEACOPP is perceived by practicing oncologists to have the potential to induce more secondary neoplasias (such as leukemias). However, the final results from the GHSG HD14 trial indicate that 'therewere no overall differences in treatment-related mortality or secondary malignancies' of BEACOPP relative to ABVD.