Hodgkin's disease: evaluation of staging procedures for abdominal involvement.

Results of preoperative assessment procedures and subsequent staging laparotomy are evaluated in 32 consecutive patients who presented with extra-abdominal Hodgkin's disease which was not already known to be in an advanced stage. Disease was found in the abdominal cavity of 10 of the 27 patients who presented with disease above the diaphragm, and of two of the five patients in whom disease presented in the inguinal nodes. In patients who initially presented with disease above the diaphragm, the spleen was involved in all 10 cases where abdominal disease was detected. Lymphography was not found to be reliable as a diagnostic aid in doubtful cases. Neither liver nor spleen scans were found to be helpful in assessment of these patients.