Blood Advances
14 April 2026
Abstract
We evaluated outcomes by management type for patients with stage IA nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) in the Global NLPHL One Working Group (GLOW) retrospective database of 2243 patients with stage I-IV disease diagnosed from 1992-2021 at 38 international institutions. 779 patients were stage IA with median age of 35 years (range=3-89) and median follow-up of 6.1 years. The 6-year PFS and OS were 86.3% and 97.7%, respectively. Outcomes were analyzed for two groups: complete resection and unresected disease. Patients with a complete resection and observation alone (n=99) had a 6-year PFS of 65.5% versus 90.5% for those who received RT (n=53). Patients with unresected disease (n=627; 80.5%) had a 6-year PFS of 62.0% for rituximab alone (n=31), 89.6% for RT alone (n=325), 76.8% for ABVD alone (n=40), and 94.3% for ABVD+RT (n=130). 127 patients relapsed (16.3%), of which 25 (19.7%) had transformation. Our analysis suggests 1) RT improves the PFS in patients with completely resected disease; 2) Rituximab or ABVD alone do not appear to achieve a durable response; 3) Chemotherapy was not observed to add additional PFS benefit when used in combination with RT. Thus, for stage IA NLPHL, RT alone is likely sufficient for definitive treatment.
Copyright © 2026 American Society of Hematology.

