The Clinical Picture of Hodgkin’s Disease

The clinical manifestations and laboratory findings in patients with Hodgkin’s disease have been reviewed. Variability of the course makes prognostication for any 1 patient difficult. Extent of disease; histologic appearance; age and sex; involvement of specific organs, such as liver or bone; and response to initial therapy all affect prognosis. The cause of death of patients with Hodgkin’s disease may be due to tumor involvement or due to complications, in particular, infections and bleeding. During the past 50 years, improvement in survival of patients has been due largely to identification of patients with local or regional disease and their treatment with aggressive radiotherapy. Current modes of chemotherapy combined with improvements in supportive care have had only modest effects on survival rates. The major obstacle to a rational approach to the problem of Hodgkin’s disease is the identification of the etiology of this disorder.