Researchers from RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute, New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as Tufts Medical Center and The University of Manchester in the U.K., announced they have developed and validated the first individualized risk prediction model for adults diagnosed with early-stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Known as the Early-stage Hodgkin International Prognostication Index (E-HIPI), the model estimates two-year progression-free survival (PFS) and is designed to support more personalized treatment planning for clinicians and patients.
The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Evidence and presented concurrently by co-first and corresponding author, Andrew M. Evens, D.O., MBA, MSc, deputy director for clinical services for the Rutgers Cancer Institute and chief physician officer of the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, during the 18th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML), a leading global forum for lymphoma research and clinical advancements.
The E-HIPI model was developed using data from over 3,000 adult patients enrolled in four pivotal international phase III clinical trials. To ensure its accuracy, it was tested and validated in two real-world registry cohorts that included more than 2,300 people with early-stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The model uses routinely available and objective clinical measures — like patient sex, tumor size and exact values of common lab results such as hemoglobin and albumin levels — to help predict an individual patient’s chance of staying cancer-free for two years.
“Early-stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a highly curable cancer, particularly among young adults. However, despite high survival rates and significant advances in treatment, we’ve lacked a validated tool to assess outcomes and estimate a patient’s risk of relapse,” said Dr. Evens, who is also system director of medical oncology and oncology lead, RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group, and associate vice chancellor for clinical innovation and data analytics at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.
“Through this global collaboration with researchers at Tufts Medical Center, the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and all our international partners, we developed a robust, dynamic and data-driven model that leverages common clinical variables to generate more precise predictive insights,” added Dr. Evens. “This tool has the potential to enhance clinical decision-making, personalize treatment strategies, and ultimately improve long-term outcomes for patients worldwide.”
The E-HIPI model demonstrated strong and consistent performance across all datasets and outperformed the widely used European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) favorable/unfavorable classification.
To facilitate real-world implementation, the research team developed interactive online risk calculators to support shared decision-making between clinicians and patients. In addition to informing personalized treatment, the E-HIPI provides modernized risk stratification for the design of future clinical trials and research studies.
This research was made possible through the HoLISTIC (Hodgkin Lymphoma International Study for Individual Care) Consortium, a global effort combining data from seminal randomized clinical trials and cancer registries, which are enriched with long-term patient follow-up. The Consortium’s shared resources enabled the development and validation of the E-HIPI model and will continue to support its refinement as new data emerge, helping ensure its continued relevance in clinical practice.
The E-HIPI builds on the success of the previously established A-HIPI (Advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma International Prognostication Index), which was also developed by investigators at RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers Cancer Institute, Tufts Medical Center and other centers and colleagues around the world.
A-HIPI is a modern clinical decision tool designed to predict five-year progression-free and overall survival in adults with advanced-stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Together, these complementary models represent a significant step forward in advancing precision medicine across the full spectrum of Hodgkin’s lymphoma care.
Investigators are actively pursuing next steps to further enhance individualized predictions by integrating different treatment regimens into the models as well as to estimate the risk of post-acute and late consequences that may occur years after therapy is completed.
