Adult Hodgkin's disease in Saudi Arabia.

Hodgkin's disease (HD) has variable clinical and pathologic features in different geographic regions. The reasons behind this are not completely clear. We reviewed 81 cases of adult HD who presented to the Adult Oncology Unit of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 1975 and 1982. Fifty-seven (70.4%) were males and 24 (29.6%) were females with median ages of 29.9 and 23 years, respectively. The male:female ratio was 2.38:1. Two distinct age peaks at 18 and 48 years were seen in both sexes, with bimodality being more striking in females. The most common histologic subtype encountered was mixed cellularity (59.3%). Most of the patients (67.9%) were either Stage III or Stage IV at the time of diagnosis. These patterns differ significantly from those seen in reported Western series, but are similar to those reported from other areas in the Middle East.