De Wolf-Peeters C, Caillou B, Diebold J, van Heerde P, van Unnik J A, van den Oord J J, van Glabbeke M, Somers R
Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1985 May;21(5):579-84. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(85)90083-5.
In the EORTC trial 20751, six pathologists belonging to five different centers classified tumoral lymph nodes from 406 untreated patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) into three different NHL classifications. NHL were most easily and reliably subdivided according to the growth pattern (the rate of consensus being 93%). Classification according to growth pattern proved to be of prognostic significance. The rate of consensus of classifying cases in the different NHL classifications ranged from 74% for the Rappaport, through 70% for the Kiel to 67% for the international working formulation. It is concluded that NHL are reliably classified according to their growth pattern, and that this subdivision is of primary prognostic significance.
