Hodgkin's Disease in Patients Over Sixty Years Old

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Fifty-two patients 60-75 yr of age were treated for Hodgkin''s disease at Stanford University [Stanford, California, USA] between 1968 and 1980. Adequate staging was defined as including a lymphogram and staging laparotomy for stage I-III and a positive bone marrow or liver biopsy or other evidence of diffuse involvement of extralymphatic tissues for stage IV. Adequate treatment was defined as subtotal lymphoid irradiation for pathologic stages I-IIA; total lymphoid irradiation for stages IIB-IIIA; and chemotherapy with or without irradiation for stages IIIB-IV. Twenty-four patients (46%) had advanced disease (IIIB-IV). Those patients who received appropriate treatment had a median survival of only 39 mo. Of the 28 patients with limited disease (I-IIIA), 15 had laparotomy and adequate treatment. Thirteen did not have a laparotomy and 7 were treated with involved-field irradiation. The 5-yr survival rate in the laparotomy-staged and adequately treated group was 86%, but in the clinically staged group, only 35% (P = 0.006).