Coexistence of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.

Two cases with coexistent chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and Hodgkin's disease (HD) are reported. The HD was discovered on biopsy specimens of enlarged lymph nodes, four and two years, respectively, after the initial diagnosis of CLL. Although CLL and HD are usually regarded as two distinct lymphoproliferative disorders, 35 cases of HD complicating CLL have been reported. A review of this literature and the author's two cases suggest that the coexistence of these two entities represent separate and unrelated lymphoproliferative disease. The use of lymphocyte cell surface marker analysis in the second case supports this conclusion.