[Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia associated with Hodgkin's disease. Characteristics, prognosis and incidence (author's transl)].

The records of 560 patients treated between 1972 and 1979 were reviewed. Nine patients had both autoimmune haemolytic anemia (AIHA) and Hodgkin's disease; 3 of them belonged to a group of 176 patients in whom a Coomb's test had been systematically performed. The incidence of the association was 1.7%. Five out of 9 patients were in clinical stages III or IV, and 8 had "B" symptoms. All patients were treated with 3 to 6 courses of MOPP followed by irradiation. The survival rate was 56.5% at 89 months. Three patients died, none of AIHA. The discovery of an AIHA at the time of diagnosis or during the course of Hodgkin's disease, the frequent finding of an excess of plasmocytes in Hodgkin's tumours and the negativation of Coomb's test by irradiation of these tumours suggest that the anti-erythrocyte activity originates in the tumoral tissue.