A clinicopathological study of stages I and II non-Hodgkin's lymphomata using the Lukes-Collins classification.

A series of 226 patients with Stages I and II non-Hodgkin's lymphomata, treated with intensive irradiation to the involved regions, were studied using the Lukes-Collins classification. A statistically significant difference was found in the length of survival of patients with the follicular and the diffuse types of lymphoma. A difference in survival was also observed among those with the 3 subtypes of follicular lymphomata. The extent to which the follicular pattern could be recognized and whether or not lymphoma cells were confined to the follicular structures likewise had a bearing upon the survival of patients with follicular lymphomata. In this series, no significant difference in survival was found between the histological types of diffuse lymphoma. The relationship of the methods of staging to survival in this series, and the findings at staging laparotomy in other series suggest that the lymphangiogram is less valuable for detecting intra-abdominal disease in the non-Hodgkin's lymphomata than in Hodgkin's disease, probably because of the high incidence of involvement of mesenteric lymph nodes in the non-Hodgkin's lymphomata.