Mediastinal Hodgkin's disease--a retrospective analysis

Thirty-seven patients with mediastinal Hodgkin's disease treated from 1972 to 1982 at the Division of Oncology of Basel University Hospital were analyzed retrospectively for their characteristics and the influence of various prognostic factors on survival. Deceased patients were older (35 vs. 25 years) and more often had systemic symptoms (8/22 vs. 3/15). 44% of the patients presented with mediastinal bulk disease, 66% of whom are in remission. No statistically significant influence of sex and stage was evident on the outcome. Patients treated with multimodality therapy had a significantly better survival than patients treated with radio- or chemotherapy only. No significant difference was found in survival in comparison to the population without mediastinal involvement.