Alcohol intolerance in neoplastic disease.

It has been recognized in recent years that some patients with Hodgkin's disease have pain at the site of disease if they drink alcohol.A mouthful or two of beer or wine may be enough.Other vasodilators have no effect.James (1960) found 58 cases in the literature and suggested an incidence of 17% when patients are specially questioned.Symptoms other than pain (including cough, itching, flushing, and nausea) have been mentioned by only a few authors-for example, Zanes (1950) and Bichel (1959)-and have attracted little attention.Since the paper by James et al. ( 1957) isolated cases of alcohol pain in other neoplasms have been described, but have been thought to be very rare (Wanka, 1965).This report concerns 155 patients with neoplastic disease who have shown alcoholic intolerance (Table I).It is suggested that such intolerance is both more common and more varied TABLE I.-Diagnosis in 155 Cases of Alcohol Intolerance Hodgkin's disease Reticulum-cell sarcoma Lymphosarcoma . ... Anaplastic lymphoid sarcoma . .Reticular lymphoma (benign Hodgkin's) .. Total in lymphoid group . .60 11 11 1 84 Carcinoma of cervix ..