[Anatomo-pathologic study of biopsies taken in 250 exploratory laparotomies for Hodgkin's disease]

During systematic laparotomies in patients with Hodgkin's disease, the spleen is removed and multiple visceral biopsies (lymph nodes, liver, bone marrow) are done. In 58,8% of the cases, the spleen is normal. In 41,2% of the patients, the spleen shows localizations of Hodgkin's disease. A tumoral spleen has sometimes a normal size (34,9% of the involved spleen). A huge spleen is not always involved by tumoral lesions (10% of the spleens without tumor). When the spleen is tumoral, lymph node involvement is more frequent and more diffuse. Generally the liver is not involved when the spleen is not tumoral. Hepatic tumoral localizations are disclosed by biopsies in 16% of the patients with splenic involvement. Bone marrow localization is found in 5,7% of the cases with splenic involvement. So exploratory laparotomy were precise pathological studies allow a better appreciation of the real extension of the lesions in Hodgkin's disease.