A reappraisal of clinical and biological signs in staging of Hodgkin's disease.

study of clinical, radiological, and biological data taken from the records of 402 patients from 1966 to 1970, we suggest that a new classification should take into account the following factors: the site of onset of the disease which enables a distinction between the high cervical, mediastinal, retroperitoneal, and axillary forms, which all have their specific lymphatic extent; the involvement if any of the spleen; the biological signs as well as clinical symptoms for identification of the systemic syndrome. These changes could bring about significant consequences for therapy, especially in reducing irradiation volumes and in advocating the use of chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy.