Hodgkins Info

Hodgkin’s disease – also called Hodgkin’s lymphoma – is a cancer of the lymphoid system. It has special historical interest because it was the first malignancy of the lymphoid system to be described. The first cases were
reported in 1832 by British physician Thomas Hodgkin, who recognized that this disorder was distinct from other causes of enlarged lymph nodes such as tuberculosis or other infectious diseases. Hodgkin’s lymphoma has characteristic
features that distinguish it from all other cancers of the lymphoid system, and so these other cancers have come to be collectively referred to as non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

Hodgkin’s disease (HD) is an uncommon malignancy.
Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas combined account for 6 percent of newly diagnosed cancers each year, with HD accounting for only 15 percent of all lymphomas. In 1997, about 7,500 new cases of HD will be diagnosed in the United
States out of a total of 1,382,400 new cases of cancer. Despite the relatively low incidence, it is an important disease because it afflicts adolescents and young adults and because it has a substantial cure rate. Treatment is
approached with much optimism.

The systematic approach to the pathological diagnosis, staging, treatment strategies and clinical trials that have been developed for Hodgkin’s disease over the past 30 years serves as a model for all modern
cancer therapy. These methods transformed an almost always fatal disease into one of the most curable cancers. With so many cases being cured, attention has recently turned toward the complications of therapy and issues of
“survivorship.” here again, HD is leading the way in treatment design and evaluation.*

I’ll be adding links about Hodgkin’s as I come across them and find them helpful:

* Everyone’s Guide to Cancer Therapy – 3rd Edition, by Malin Dollinger, M.D., Ernest H. Rosenbaum, M.D., and Greg Cable. Somerville House Books Limited, 1997.