Hodgkin's disease: biology, treatment, prognosis

This lecture presents a review of recent advances in Hodgkin’s disease. with particular reference to the identity and origin of its neoplastic cell population, their mode of spread in the body, the mechanisms underlying the selecH ODGKIN’S DISEASE has long defied classification because it presents, in varying degree, a curious amalgam of the features of a malignant lymphoid neoplasm, a chronic granulomatous infection, and an immunologic disorder. Debate has centered not only on the fundamental nature of the disease but on the identity of its putative tumor cell population and its pattern ofspread within the body. It is only in the last two decades that defInitive evidence of the malignant neoplastic nature of Hodgkin’s disease has finally emerged from cytogenetic and cell culture studies demonstrating that the giant cells of Hodgkin’s disease satisfy two of the most fundamental attributes of neoplasia: aneuploidy and clonal derivation. During the same 2 decades, impressive progress has also been made in charting the patterns of dissemination of the disease, in defining staging classifications and procedures, and in developing improved radiother