Treatment of Malignant Lymphoma
A 12-year's Experience with 109 Patients

1) Treatment of Hodgkin's Disease

Abstract

Results of treatment were analysed in 25 patients with Hodgkin's disease who were admitted to the Division of Hematology, Jichi Medical School Hospital between 1974 and 1985. The median age of the patients was 48 years. According to the Rye classification, the patients were divided as follows; 9 nodular sclerosis, 6 mixed cellularity, 6 lymphocytic depletion and 4 lymphocytic predominance. Twenty-one out of 25 patients were in advanced stages; 10 in stage III and 11 stage IV, and 20 patients were positive for B symptom.
All patients except one received COPP or VEMP chemotherapy. The median survival of them was 55 months and the actuarial survival at 5 years and 10 years were 41% and 25%, respectively. The patients with mixed cellularity had a worse prognosis than those with nodular sclerosis or lymphocytic predominance. The patients with stage IV disease also had a poor prognosis.
Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate Hodgkin's disease from some types of the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma such as pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma on pathological findings. Misdiagnosis of these lymphomas might be one of the reason for the poor prognosis of Hodgkin's disease in Japan as well as in our series. To improve the prognosis of patients with Hodgkin's disease, correct diagnosis and staging would be neccessary.