The treatment resistance of lymphocyte depleted Hodgkin's disease.

Lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin's Disease (LDHD) is a very aggressive form of cancer that presents at an advanced stage and for which no increase in overall survival has been demonstrated with the advent of multiple agent chemotherapy. All cases of Hodgkin's disease diagnosed in the Province of Manitoba between 1971 and 1977 were reviewed. Those cases identified as LDHD were reviewed by a single pathologist, and data was abstracted to obtain a clinical profile. Survival curves were constructed comparing the LDHD group to those with other types of Hodgkin's disease. The LDHD group was also compared with an earlier LDHD group treated with single agent chemotherapy in the 1960s. The LDHD group had a significantly shortened survival compared with the other histologies. This was just as significant when mixed cellularity Hodgkin's was compared with LDHD and matched for Stage B symptomatology. Furthermore, there was no difference in survival between the earlier LDHD groups treated with single agent chemotherapy and the later group treated with multiple agent chemotherapy.