Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after treatment for Hodgkin's disease

A patient is described who developed a diffuse histiocytic lymphoma (DHL) 9 years after radiation therapy for Hodgkin's disease. This occurrence is of particular interest because the treatment for Hodgkin's disease included no chemotherapy and the second tumor appeared to originate remote from the irradiated site. Thus, the role of Hodgkin's disease treatment in the etiology of this patient's second lymphoma appears doubtful. The development of DHL in this patient could represent an unrelated event or conceivably an event facilitated by Hodgkin's disease itself.