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Chemotherapy (chemo) is at least part of the main treatment for most people with Hodgkin lymphoma, other than some people with nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL).
Chemo is the use of drugs to treat cancer. It is usually injected into a vein under your skin or taken as a pill. Chemo drugs travel through your bloodstream to reach and destroy cancer cells wherever they are in your body.
Chemo is given in cycles that include a period of treatment followed by a rest period to give the body time to recover. In general, each cycle lasts for several weeks.
Most chemo treatments are given in the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital outpatient department, but some may require a hospital stay.
Sometimes, chemo is used along with an immunotherapy medicine to treat Hodgkin lymphoma. Sometimes it is followed by radiation therapy.
Chemo for classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) combines several drugs because different drugs kill the cancer cells in different ways. The most common combinations used to treat cHL are often referred to by abbreviations:
This is the same regimen as ABVD, but without the bleomycin. It is often combined with an immunotherapy drug such as brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) or nivolumab (Opdivo).
Other chemo combinations can also be used for Hodgkin lymphoma. Most use some of the same drugs listed above, but they might include different combinations and be given on different schedules.
A drug that is sometimes thought of as chemo is brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris). This is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which is a monoclonal antibody attached to a chemo drug. For more on this drug, see Immunotherapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Chemo drugs can cause side effects. These side effects depend on the type and dose of drugs and how long treatment lasts.
Before starting chemo, ask your cancer care team to explain any possible side effects and your chances of having them. Also ask what you can do to help prevent them.
Common short-term side effects include:
These side effects usually go away over time after treatment ends. If serious side effects occur, your chemo may be delayed or the doses reduced.
Be sure to tell your cancer care team if you have side effects. They can often help you manage them. For example, there are drugs to help prevent nausea and vomiting.
Some chemo drugs can have long-lasting side effects. These might not happen until months or even years after your treatment ends.
For example:
Long-term effects are discussed in more detail in After Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment.
For more general information about how chemotherapy is used to treat cancer, see Chemotherapy.
To learn about some of the side effects listed here and how to manage them, see Managing Cancer-related Side Effects.
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Ansell SM, Radford J, Connors JM, et al. Overall survival with brentuximab vedotin in stage III or IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma. N Eng J Med 2022;387:310-320.
Bartlett NL, Foyil KV. Chapter 105: Hodgkin lymphoma. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Dorshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa. Elsevier: 2014.
Borchmann P, Ferdinandus J, Schneider G, et al. Assessing the efficacy and tolerability of PET-guided BrECADD versus eBEACOPP in advanced-stage, classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HD21): a randomised, multicentre, parallel, open-label, phase 3 trial. Lancet 2024;404:341-352.
Fornecker LM, Lazarovici J, Aurer I, et al. Brentuximab vedotin plus AVD for first-line treatment of early-stage unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma (BREACH): A multicenter, open label, randomized, phase II trial. J Clin Oncol 2023;41:327-335
Herrera AF, LeBlanc M, Castellino SM, et al. Nivolumab+AVD in Advanced-Stage Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 2024 Oct 17;391(15):1379-1389.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), Hodgkin Lymphoma, Version 2.2025 -- Jan 30, 2025. Accessed at www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/hodgkins.pdf on July 10, 2025.
Straus DJ, Jung SH, Pitcher B, et al. CALGB 50604: risk-adapted treatment of nonbulky early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma based on interim PET. Blood 2018;132:1013-1021.
Last Revised: October 6, 2025
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