Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Hodgkin's Disease

Eligibility Criteria * Histologically proven Hodgkin's Disease. A needle aspirate specimen will not be considered sufficient for diagnosis. * Pathologic material must have been reviewed by a designated local reference pathologist (LRP) prior to randomization. Histologic subtype determined by the LRP will be used for patient cohort assignment. * Patients must have clinical stage I - IIA disease according to Ann Arbor staging criteria. Clinical stage must be based on at least one tissue biopsy. The following aspects are to be considered in determining patient stage: i) Splenic Enlargement: Splenic enlargement determined by imaging studies only should not be considered evidence of splenic involvement with Hodgkin's disease. Patients should be considered as having splenic involvement if the spleen is palpable on physical examination and enlarged on imaging studies, or imaging studies show focal abnormalities consistent with Hodgkin's disease. These patients, if presenting with supradiaphragmatic disease would therefore be assessed as having Stage III disease and would be ineligible. ii) Bone Disease: Lytic or blastic lesions seen on plain radiographs or abnormalities on bone scan consistent with Hodgkin's disease will be considered as bone involvement with Hodgkin's disease. These patients would therefore be assessed as having Stage IV disease and would be ineligible. iii) Pleural Effusion and Ascites: The presence of a pleural effusion or ascites will be considered as evid…