Diffuse Thymic Enlargement in Hodgkin's Disease

DIFFUSE thymic hyperplasia following chemotherapy has rarely been reported in Hodgkin's disease, but its presence has been proposed as a favorable sign for the control of the illness.¹ We report herein a case of a 33-year-old woman with mixed cellular Hodgkin's disease who went into complete remission after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. While she was in complete remission, a mediastinal mass appeared that was proven histologically to be an enlarged thymus. Report of a Case A 33-year-old woman had been healthy until 1979, when she started to suffer from intermittent fever and night sweats. In August 1980, a physical examination detected left laterocervical, supraclavicular, and right axillar lymphadenopathies. The diagnosis of stage IIB mixed cellular Hodgkin's disease was made by a biopsy of the supraclavicular node and by staging procedures. She was treated with chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) and radiotherapy (total nodal irradiation).²She went into complete