Vascular invasion in Hodgkin's disease: Its incidence and relationship to the spread of the disease

Blood vessel invasion in Hodgkin's disease has rarely been reported in lymph node biopsies. Although this phenomenon may occasionally be noted in hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections, it is more readily demonstrable when elastica stains are employed. In all biopsy sections, the involved vessels were veins. Blood vessel invasion was most frequent in Hodgkin's disease with lymphocytic depletion, according to the Rye modification of the classification of Lukes and Butler; it occurred in approximately 50% of these cases. This high incidence in the reticular type of Hodgkin's disease was accordingly associated with the presence of extensive disease (80% of the patients with vascular invasion were stage III or IV) and with a relatively short survival. The phenomenon of blood vessel invasion in Hodgkin's disease tends to support the concept of Hodgkin's disease as a malignant neoplasm. It is essential to explain bone marrow and visceral involvements other than those occurring by contiguity.