Very late relapse of Hodgkin's disease after 24 years of complete remission.

With current treatment modalities, most patients with early stage Hodgkin's disease (HD) can be cured. Patients destined to relapse, usually do so within 3 years after treatment completion. Late relapses do occur but disease recurrence beyond 15 years is extremely rare. We report a patient with clinical stage IIA nodular sclerosis HD, originally treated with radiotherapy alone, who relapsed 24 years after the initial diagnosis. Our patient's case indicates the possible need for lifelong surveillance of patients with Hodgkin's disease.