Hodgkin's disease, stages I and II occurring below the diaphragm

Between February 12, 1968 and August 17, 1977, 473 consecutive patients with Hodgkin's disease were entered into protocol studies at Stanford University Medical Center (SUMC). 242 of these 473 patients were pathological Stage I or II; 223 patients had disease above the diaphragm and 19 patients had disease confined below the diaphragm. When compared to patients with disease above the diaphragm, patients with Hodgkin's disease below the diaphragm were more frequently male (74% vs. 53%, p = 0.14), were on the average older (40 vs. 27, p less than .005) and more frequently had the histologic subtype of mixed cellularity (32% vs. 12%, p = .04). There was no difference in either survival or relapse-free survival between patients with Hodgkin's disease above the diaphragm and patients with disease below the diaphragm receiving similar treatment plans.