Importance of initial mediastinal adenopathy in Hodgkin disease

The importance of initial mediastinal disease was studied retrospectively in 189 patients with stages I, II, and III Hodgkin disease treated at the M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute between 1969 and 1976. Stages I and II patients with mediastinal disease at presentation had an 88% 5 year survival rate compared with a 98% survival rate for those without mediastinal disease. Disease-free survival was 66% versus 78%. Stage III patients with and without initial mediastinal disease showed essentially the same 5 year survival rate (75% versus 78%), but showed a lower disease-free survival of 60% in those with mediastinal disease as compared with 74% in those without mediastinal disease. Because of the prognostic importance of mediastinal disease and its extent at initial presentation, computed tomography is recommended to evaluate patients with low neck or supraclavicular adenopathy in whom there is no obvious mediastinal adenopathy and in all Hodgkin disease patients in whom there is questionable mediastinal disease or suggestion of lung extension on routine radiographs. Treatment plans have been altered to include chemotherapy and low-dose irradiation to the lungs in those patients with mediastinal mass diameters of 7.5 cm or greater, regardless of stage.