Substaging of stage III Hodgkin's disease

Patients with stage III Hodgkin's disease require a staging laparotomy to accurately define two main subgroups of patients, III1 and III2. Selection of treatment modality for each group is very important. The majority of patients with pathological stage III Hodgkin's disease are treated with combined modality therapy; however, a subset of patients can be effectively treated with radiation therapy alone.