Hodgkin's disease; a clinical-pathological review of 150 cases

One hundred and fifty cases of Hodgkin's disease were analyzed in an effort to detect significant clinical-pathological correlations and to elucidate any possible factors of prognostic or etiological importance.A relatively long survival for patients with Hodgkin's paragranuloma was not noted in this series. Instead the survival rate among them was closely parallel to that of patients with classical granuloma. Hodgkin's sarcoma is a more malignant disease with a patient survival rate not more than half that of patients with the granuloma variety. It is not necessarily a disease of older age groups. Great caution must be exercised to avoid including non-Hodgkin's disease tumors under the heading of Hodgkin's sarcoma or paragranuloma. The series reported corresponds with many other reported series of Hodgkin's disease as regards greater incidence in males and longer survival in females. In this series the cases in patients under the age of 15 were all in males. The predominance of initial enlargement of the cervical nodes was again noted in this series, as was the high proportion of negative reaction to tuberculin tests. The incidence of tuberculous lesions in patients who died of Hodgkin's disease was only slightly greater than in those who died of other lymphoma. Site of origin of the disease apparently affects survival time. There was statistical evidence that gonadal activity might influence the equilibrium of the disease. Lymph node bacteriological cultures were not remarkable. Brucella organisms were absent. Fertile egg passages for detecting possible viral agents revealed increased egg mortality and cutaneous sensitivity reactions to the harvested amniotic fluid.