Hodgkin’s Disease and HIV Infection (HD-HIV) in Pre- and Post-HAART Era: The GICAT (Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumors) Experience in 139 Patients.

Background: Hodgkin’s disease (HD) in HIV infected patients shows aggressive tumour behaviour including a high frequency of unfavourable histologic subtypes, advanced stage and extranodal involvement and a poor outcome. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has opened a new prospective in the treatment of patients with HD-HIV.

Methods: We analysed the results of four consecutive prospective phase II studies carried out within the GICAT since 1988.

Results: Table 1 summarizes the results of the prospective studies.

Conclusions: Since the widespread use of HAART, CR rate is improving and OS and DFS as well. The concomitant use of HAART and chemotherapy is feasible and advisable in our experience. In the HAART era HD seems to be a more successfully treatable malignancy, although at higher incidence and probably with the same aggressive behaviour at presentation as in the pre-HAART era.