Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in children: successes and challenges

Paediatric lymphomas constitute a little over 10% of all cancers in children and fall into one of two pathological classes: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL). The clinical presentation and management differ for HL and NHL and their associated subgroups. For most childhood lymphoma, current treatment strategies result in high cure rates. However this comes with the significant burden of the late effects of treatment in some patient groups, particularly with the use of radiotherapy in HL. The treatment of relapsed and refractory disease poses significant challenges for the increasingly small populations for whom there are specific unmet clinical needs. A wider understanding of the molecular basis of both disease response and resistance is required to inform an individualized approach to treatment. In this review, we will give a clinical overview of classical HL and NHL with an emphasis on presentation and management.