Pruritus and Hodgkin's Disease

To the Editor.—  In the article "Prognostic Importance of Pruritus in Hodgkin's Disease" (240:2738, 1978), Feiner and colleagues presented evidence to suggest that the presence of severe itching in early-stage disease at the time of diagnosis augurs for an atypical A course with remission durations comparable with those found in patients with traditional B symptoms. Furthermore, their review raises the suspicion that patients with pruritus alone do not merit the A classification and may warrant the B designation.These authors also emphasize that although the participants in the Ann Arbor Conference on the Staging of Hodgkin's Disease, as well as the American Joint Committee for Cancer Staging and End-Results Reporting, excluded pruritus as a prognostically important symptom in Hodgkin's disease, they believe that severe itching may presage a poor outcome.That evaluation of pruritus as a prognostic index should be accomplished is unquestioned. During the early days of radiology residency