[Evaluation study of laparatomy in Hodgkinś disease]

We report 30 patients with Hodgkin's disease treated at "La Paz" Children Hospital of Madrid, from 1965 to 1984, to determine the role of the laparotomy in modifying the presurgical clinic stage. Laparotomy changed this stage in 40% of patients, in whom stage advanced from I or II to III or IV. The only side effect of surgery was pneumococcal sepsis in two patients. All children were treated with polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine and penicillin or erythromycin, before laparotomy.