Risk factors for bone marrow involvement in Hodgkin's disease

The significant factors of risk for bone marrow involvement in Hodgkin's disease included age over 40 yrs, such unfavorable histological features as lymphoid exhaustion and nodular sclerosing stage II, symptoms of intoxication, an ESR of more than 50 mm/h, increased fibrinogen (> 5.0 g/l), blood-plasma alkaline phosphatase (> 130 units), leukocyte concentration (> 10,000 per min) and decreased hemoglobulin (< 100 g/l). Despite the reliable correlation between bone marrow involvement and said factors, relevant data did not provide a similarly reliable basis for accurate prognosis of tumor dissemination. However, our findings pointed to two categories of Hodgkin's disease patients characterized by minimal risk of tumor dissemination--patients under 20, with stage I-II AB and IIIA tumors,--and patients with similar tumors and such favorable histological patterns of major pathology as high lymphocytic ratio and nodular sclerosing stage I.