The achievements of the EORTC Lymphoma Group

From 1964 onwards, the EORTC Lymphoma Group has conducted seven consecutive randomised phase 3 trials on early 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 was superior to CHVmP. We could not show any advantage for intensification of upfront treatment with autologous stem cell transplantation.