Clinical and surgical staging of Hodgkin's disease.

Staging laparotomy was performed in 36 patients with Hodgkin's disease. The surgical procedure changed the stage in 14 cases or 36% and also revealed subdiaphragmatic disease in 14 patients. Mixed cellularity and nodular sclerosis were the main histopathological types, contributing 44% and 42%, respectively, of the whole material. Postoperative complications occurred in 8 cases (22%)--none was fatal. The average hospital stay was 9.5 days, the longest being 22 days.