From an ASH 2011 Press conference:

Final Analysis of a Randomized Comparison of ABVD Chemotherapy with a Strategy that Includes Radiation Therapy (RT) in Patients with Limited-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL): NCIC CTG/ECOG HD.6

New research concludes that patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma treated with a standard chemotherapy regimen have better overall survival rates compared with those receiving a radiation-based treatment. 

Patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are often treated with combination therapy containing chemotherapy plus radiation (RT). While this therapy is successful in controlling HL, these patients remain challenged by potential long-term complications of radiation exposure such as heart conditions or subsequent cancers. 

To determine if HL patients treated with standard chemotherapy (ABVD) have better long-term survival than those treated with radiation-based therapy, researchers from Canada’s NCIC Page 3, Lymphoma and Myeloma 

Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) designed a trial comparing the 12-year overall survival (OS) between the two groups. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) also participated in the trial. Along with overall survival, the trial also examined secondary survival factors, including freedom from disease progression (FFDP) and event-free survival (EFS).