[Hodgkin's disease. Our 9-year experience with the 1980 protocol]

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the therapeutic results attained with our 1980 protocol for Hodgkin's disease. The usefulness of staging laparotomy was also analysed. Along a 9-year period, 94 patients were diagnosed (stages IA and IIA: 26 cases, IB, IIB and IIIA: 24 cases, and IIIB and IV: 44 cases). The complete remission (CR) rate, as a whole, was 85%; there were 14 relapses, of whom a new CR was attained in 9 instances. The overall actuarial survival is 64% at 47 months. The appearance of 3 cases of acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia is noteworthy. Laparotomy induced changes of the patient's staging in 49% of cases (rise in 43% and descent in 6%). In account of this, laparotomy seems an adequate procedure in staging, although the criteria for selecting the patients who will undergo this, procedure should be perhaps restrictive.