Cytodiagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in sputum specimens

In patients with histologically proven Hodgkin's disease, knowledge of the extent of involvement of lymph nodes and other organs has proven valuable in the determination of treatment and prognosis. One of the most common sites of involvement outside the hematopoietic system has been shown to be the lung parenchyma; in this study, six patients with a tissue-proven diagnosis of Hogdkin's disease and positive cytologic findings in the sputum were reviewed. Three cell types not found in normal sputum specimens were identified in these patients and were correlated with the histologic patterns of the tumors as seen in lung biopsies. Our results suggest the usefulness of sputum examination as an adjunctive or possibly a substitute diagnostic procedure in the evaluation of patients with Hodgkin's disease and possible lung involvement. They also suggest that in some cases the cytologic diagnosis can be quite specific in the identification of neoplastic cells as consistent with a diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease.