Experience in the treatment of refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma

Background. The use of modern induction chemotherapy programs for primary Hodgkin's lymphoma allows achievement of high long-term outcomes even in patients with initially poor prognosis. However, the toxicity of treatment is quite high. Despite the effectiveness of chemotherapy, the frequency of relapses and resistant forms varies from 20 to 30 %. In extremely rare cases, the use of intensive chemotherapy regimens, including high-dose chemotherapy, leads to long-term remissions. Description of the clinical case. We present a case of advanced-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma in a young patient with symptoms of intoxication and adverse risk factors, such as: massive lesion in the mediastinum, increased ESR, infiltration of soft tissues, pleura, pericardium, multiple lesions of both lungs, damage to more than 3 areas of the lymphatic collectors. Given all these factors, the disease prognosis was extremely unfavorable, with a low probability of achieving remission and a high risk of early progression. The use of the intensive EACOPP-14 program allowed the achievement of short-term partial remission. Due to poor treatment tolerance, but taking into account the achievement of a partial response, further treatment was continued using the ABVD chemotherapy regimen. Follow-up examination revealed disease progression. Further courses of chemotherapy using various combinations of chemotherapy drugs resulted in a short-term positive effect with subsequent disease progression. Considering the fact that the disease was resistant to most basic chemotherapeutic agents, immunotherapy with nivolumab (PD-1 inhibitor) was administered. This alternative treatment method allowed the disease to be stabilized. Conclusion. The use of the immunological drug in a patient with chemoresistant Hodgkin's lymphoma made it possible to stop the progression of the disease and to improve the patient's quality of life, without significant infectious complications and adverse events.