Extralymphatic Hodgkin's disease: Prognosis and response to therapy

Three hundred eighteen patients with pathologic stage IA and IB, IIA and IIB, and IIIA Hodgkin's disease who entered into Stanford University Medical Center randomized trials comparing radiation therapy alone to radiation therapy plus six cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy were evaluated. Of these, 54 patients had extralymphatic (E) lesions. There were five relapses among these patients (9 percent), not different from the 37 relapses among the remaining 264 patients (14 percent) with Hodgkin's disease confined to the lymphatic system. Actuarial survival and freedom from relapse were not significantly different for patients with or without extralymphatic disease. The survival of patients with extralymphatic disease was similar whether they received radiation therapy alone or radiation therapy plus chemotherapy.