Updated Hodgkin's Disease: A. Introduction

A number of major strides have been made during the past decade toward the cure of Hodgkin's disease. They include the following: (1) development of a meaningful classification (Introductory Fig); (2) a greater effort to determine the true extent of the disease by means of sophisticated radiography; (3) the use of laparotomy; (4) biopsy evaluation of inaccessible abdominal sites; (5) the development of very refined megavoltage radiation therapy techniques; and (6) an effective, cyclic, multidrug, chemotherapy schedule. As a result, an air of optimism has supplanted the pessimism that pervaded the literature and clinical practice in the past.

These aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic approaches have overcome the initial obstacles to cure. A new medical radicalism has been spawned by the combination of all types of contemporary technology; success has resulted from multidisciplinary teamwork leading into interdisciplinary decision making. The concern now is that promising investigational procedures and new ideas presently