Hodgkin's disease: treatment and secondary neoplasms.

Hodgkin's disease is a lymphoma which occurs in man in the lymph nodes or in extra-lymphatic tissue. The disease was first described in 1832 by Thomas Hodgkin, a British physician. The disease develops with different patterns of histology in several types which a varying degree of malignancy: stages of the disease processes may be encountered. Lymph nodes appear phylogenetically first in the mesentery of crocodiles and reach the top of their development in the mammal. Here they are important during the neoplastic development as regional stations thereof. The treatment, depending on the cellular make-up of the type, may vary from advantageous to very toxic. Successful treatment in several cases on the one hand, in contrast to high therapeutic toxicity, and the development of secondary neoplasms on the other, are outlined.