MALIGNANT LYMPHOMAS: PATTERNS OF PROGRESSION AND FACTORS INFLUENCING RECURRENCE

¹ Fellow, Pack Medical Foundation, New York, New York.

In a series of 200 patients with Hodgkin’s disease treated by radiation therapy, recurrent disease occurred in 52 per cent of the patients; in 74 per cent of these, the recurrent disease involved the contiguous lymph node regions. In 300 patients with lymphosarcoma, 63 per cent of the patients experienced recurrent disease; and of these patients, 33 per cent had recurrences in the contiguous lymph node regions (Table xv).

Of the patients with Hodgkin’s disease, those who had nodular sclerosing disease had a lower (4 per cent) recurrence rate. Of the patients with lymphosarcoma, those with giant follicular lymphosarcoma had a lower recurrence rate (24 per cent) than those with lymphocytic lymphosarcoma or reticulum cell sarcoma.

It would appear that those patients who received the maximum radiation therapy— i.e., 3,500+ rads to the primary site and 3,000+ rads to the adjacent lymph node regions—had the lower recurrence rate.

Further studies, on host immunity and tumor virulence, appear to be warranted.

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