The effects of radiation therapy for Hodgkin's disease in a child with ataxia telangiectasia: a clinical, biological and pathologic study.

Stage I lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's disease was diagnosed in a 44-month-old girl. Although immune deficiency was suspected and IgA deficiency demonstrated, the diagnosis of an ataxia-telangiectasia (AT)-like syndrome was not confirmed until eight weeks later when results of studies on the radiosensitivity of cultured skin fibroblasts were available. The child had none of the usual physical stigmata of AT. Severe acute radiation damage followed the treatment of this child with standard doses of radiation therapy. Clinical, pathologic, and radiobiologic correlations are drawn. The diagnosis of a malignant lymphoma disorder in children under the age of five should alert clinicians to the possibility of immune deficiency and, even in the absence of classical physical signs, to AT in particular. Suggestions for the management of future similar cases are put forward.