Laparoscopic staging of Hodgkin's disease.

The role of operative staging of patients with Hodgkin's disease continues to evolve. First described in 1969, the indications for this procedure continue to be redefined. Recent advances in surgical instrumentation have allowed procedures such as cholecystectomy, colon resection, nephrectomy, and splenectomy to be performed laparoscopically. We report a case of a complete staging procedure for Hodgkin's disease including splenectomy, performed laparoscopically. The patient had an uneventful recovery and returned to work 11 days postoperatively. While performing this operation laparoscopically does not alter the indications for the procedure, laparoscopic staging of Hodgkin's disease may result in shorter hospitalization and recovery time while providing complete pathologic staging of subdiaphragmatic disease.