My Brother (32yrs old) was diagnosed in 2001 with having HIV. They said he's probably had it for 6yrs-10yrs prior. He's just been recently diagnosed with having stage 4 Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkins Disease. His recent cd4 was 114 he's not sure about his viral load about a month ago it was undetectable. His H+H was 8.4 27.3 and he's lost 50lbs in the last 6 months. He's also very weak, fatigued and has aloss of appetite. He's starting not to look like my brother:( My family and I don't know about Hodgkin's Disease with someone with AIDS. If you could give us any info on treatment, is his prognosis going to be good with stage 4? What have your dealings been with other patients? anything would be a great help. Thank you in advance for your time with this matter.

Sincerely,

Cheryl

Dear Cheryl, You sound like a supportive sister. Hodgkin's disease is one of the cancers, which is seen quite often in conjunction with HIV infection. It responds very well to chemotherapy even if the Hodgkin's disease is Stage 4. I have had many patients with Stage 4, who are now cured of their disease. Typically we treat Stage 4 patients with 6 cycles of chemotherapy; each cycle lasts about 1 month. Some oncologists use different approaches. I wish him well. He should do okay. He should stay on his HIV drugs since that's the best way to keep the Hodgkin's disease from coming back.