Infradiaphragmatic presentation of Hodgkin's disease

Twenty patients with infradiaphragmatic presentations of Hodgkin's disease were seen at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, between 1970 and 1977, 13% of the total number of patients with Stage I and II Hodgkin's disease seen in this period (20 out of 153). All the patients were male. Lymphocyte predominance was seen in 35%, nodular sclerosis in 30%, mixed cellularity in 30% and lymphocyte depletion in 5%. There is a lower incidence of nodular sclerosis than seen with supradiaphragmatic presentations. The average age was highest in patients with nodular sclerosing disease. All clinical Stage I patients had negative laparotomies. An approach to staging and treatment similar to that used for clinical supradiaphragmatic disease appears to yield equally good results.