Staging laparotomy for Hodgkin's disease in 69 patients.

Sixty-nine patients with biopsy-proven Hodgkin's disease were subjected to laparotomy, splenectomy, liver biopsy, bone biopsy, and para-aortic nodal biopsies between October 1970 and December 1975, and have now been followed for 5 years. There were no major short-term surgical complications. There was one death from septicemia in a splenectomized adolescent. Laparotomy with splenectomy provides more precise delineation of intraabdominal disease than other methods. In difficult or equivocal cases, staging laparotomy can help choose the best treatment regimen.