The value of laparotomy and splenectomy in the management of early Hodgkin's disease. A report from the British National Lymphoma Investigation.

Three hundred and nine cases of Hodgkin's disease have been investigated by laparotomy, splenectomy and biopsy of liver and abdominal lymph nodes. The findings are recorded and the value of and indications for the procedure discussed. Intra-abdominal involvement has been found in 86 out of 184 cases (47 percent) where other diagnostic methods, including lymphography, had not revealed disease below the diaphragm. as no clinical or histological parameter appeared reliably to indicate the likehood of intra-abdominal disease, it is suggested that logically either laparotomy should be carried out in all Stage I and II cases, or that treatment policy should be governed by the high probability of intra-abdominal disease.