Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Rituximab in Treating Participants With Stage III-IV Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria:

• Previously untreated patient with classical Hodgkin's lymphoma patients with stage III and IV
• International Prognostic Score of > 2 (patient must have > 2 of the following risk features: Male, >= 45 years of age, stage IV, albumin < 4, white blood cell count [WBC] >= 15, lymphocytes < 8% or < 600, hemoglobin [Hgb] < 10.5)
• Must sign a consent form
• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 1,500/microL
• Platelet > 100,000/microL
• Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >= 50% by multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan or echocardiogram
• Serum creatinine < 2 mg/dl
• Serum bilirubin < 2 mg/dl
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) < 2 x upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Bi-dimensionally measurable disease

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
• Pregnant women and women of child bearing age who are not practicing adequate contraception
• Prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy
• Severe pulmonary disease as judged by the principal investigator (PI) including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma
• Active infection requiring treatment with intravenous therapy
• Presence of central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma
• Concomitant malignancies or previous malignancies within the last 5 years (exception made for adequately treated basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or carcinoma in situ of cervix)
• Active hepatitis B or C infection