[A trial of combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy for stage IV Hodgkin's disease with initial lung involvement (author's transl)].

Between 1972 and 1975 a total of 20 patients were treated for stage IV Hodgkin's disease with initial lung involvement. All had pathological findings in the mediastinum, and 17 had a nodular-sclerosing type histologically. Four patients were in full remission after six months of multiple chemotherapy. Further chemotherapy or combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy achieved full remission in a total of eight patients, i.e. a six-year survival rate of 40%. The prognosis was poor if lung involvement was still evident after six-month chemotherapy. But if the lung involvement disappears radiologically the authors recommend further treatment, analogous to that in stages II and III, i.e. exploratory laparotomy with splenectomy, plus upper and - if necessary - lower section radiotherapy.