[The bone marrow in Hodgkin's disease following radiotherapy and splenectomy].

A study was made of the bone marrow status in unirradiated zones of 33 patients with stage I-II Hodgkin's disease in complete 9-12 year remission after therapeutic irradiation of the lymphatic collectors of the upper part of the trunk in combination with irradiation of the spleen (16 patients) or splenectomy (17 patients). The total count of myelokaryocytes, myelogram, a relative and absolute content of lymphoid cells, immature granulocytes and elements of the erythroid series were defined in the punctates of the upper portion of the ilium. T- and B-lymphocyte count, the number of granulocytomacrophage (CFU-C) and stromal (CFU-F) precursor cells were defined using morphocytochemical and immunological methods. At that time an increase in the relative and absolute content of C- and B-lymphocytes was noted. The T-cell count and the total number of myelokaryocytes, on the one hand, and the content of immature granulocytes and erythronormoblasts, on the other hand, showed correlation of various degree which was particularly noticeable in the group of unoperated patients. The total number of myelokaryocytes in 1 microliter of the bone marrow of the patients after splenectomy, on an average, significantly exceeded that in the group of patients with the irradiated spleen. These changes were considered to be a result of the rearrangement of T-differentiating lymphocytes with their raised accumulation in the bone marrow after irradiation of a considerable volume of the lymphoid tissue and spleen or after splenectomy.