[Pathological diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma]

This lymphoma was recognized by Thomas Hodgkin in 1832. In 1865, Samuel Wilks named it Hodgkin disease. Now, the term Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is acceptable over Hodgkin disease. Since the neoplastic cells of the disease is well-recognized to be a lymphoid cell, especially B lymphocyte. In WHO classification published in 2008, HLs are divided into two entities: Classical HL and nodular lymphocyte predominat HL. The former is composed of four different subtypes: nodular sclerosis (NS), mixed cellularity (MC), lymphocyte rich (LR), and lymphocyte depletion (LD). HL is characterized by the morphological feature comprising a minority of neoplastic cells, Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells and popcorn (LP) cells and a majority of non-neoplastic reactive cells. Antigen receptor gene analyses by prevailing molecular methods and flow cytometry are not appropriate method for the diagnosis of HL, because of small number of neoplastic cells. They are, however, very useful in the differential diagnosis to rule out other lymphomas. Even the present when science progressed, pathological (morphological and immunohistochemical) examination is very worth for diagnosis of HL.