The liver in Hodgkin's disease--I. Clinico-pathological relations

A retrospective analysis of staging results from 308 patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) was performed in order to relate clinico-pathological findings with respect to the liver to other staging results and to prognosis. Thirty-four patients had clinically enlarged liver, 80 had increased serum-enzyme levels indicating possible liver damage, but only 10 patients had biopsy-proven histologic evidence of HD in the liver (7 primary biopsies, 3 re-biopsies). Among the prognostic correlations not only advanced stage and liver infiltrates were connected to poor prognosis, but also--even in early stages--elevated serum enzyme values (S-GOT and alkaline phosphate).