The histology of the initial relapse of Hodgkin's disease.

The histology of relapsing Hodgkin's disease was compared with that of the original diagnostic biopsy in 56 patients. A criterion for inclusion in this study was relapse in an untreated site, thereby excluding all patients initially treated with chemotherapy. THose patients selected for study were initially treated with local radiotherapy, and relapsed outside the initial radiation fields. There was an impressive maintenance of the histologic appearance in the relapse biopsies: a change in histology was seen only in a small percentage of cases. The histologic relationship of so-called "cellular phase" of nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease to classical nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease was confirmed. Those patients with a relapse-free interval greater than one year more often had an epithelioid cell reaction (granulomatous reaction) in their biopsy material in contrast to those who relapsed in less than one year.