RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage cancer cells. Combining more than one drug with radiation therapy may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known which combination chemotherapy regimen is most effective in treating Hodgkin's lymphoma. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying two different combination chemotherapy regimens and comparing how well they work, with or without radiation therapy, in treating patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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Failure-free Survival at 5 Years
Timeframe: Assessed every 2 months if patient is < 1 year from study entry, every 3 months for the second year, every 4 months for the third year, every 6 months for years 4 and 5