Histologic subclassification of nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's disease.

Nodular sclerosis (NS) Hodgkin's disease was pathologically subdivided by cellular composition and degree of fibrosis in a series of 49 children admitted to the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan between 1967 and 1977. NS showed lymphocytic predominance (LP) in 26 cases, mixed cellularity (MC) in 16 cases, and lymphocytic depletion (LD) in 7 cases. "Early fibrosis" (EF) and "advanced fibrosis" (AF) subgroups in 28 and 21 cases, respectively, were observed. Of the cases with LP 76.9% (20/26) presented with stages I and II disease, compared with 37.5% (6/16) and 28.6% (2/7) of the MC nad LD subgroups, respectively. LP and EF subgroups coexisted in 12 of 28 (42.9%) patients at stages I and II. Predominance of lymphocytes, rarity of lacunar cells, and a mild degree of fibrosis were asociated with early stages of disease. This data confirms that subclassification of NS is feasible.