Major surgery in hodgkin's disease and other malignant lymphomas

Abstract

This is a retrospective and all‐inclusive study of 527 patients with malignant lymphoma. A total of 178 major surgical procedures were carried out on 139 patients (an incidence rate of 18.4% for the 163 patients with Hodgkin's disease and 29.9% for the 364 with other lymphomas). There were 101 procedures done initially for diagnosis and 77 carried out after the diagnosis was established. Only 15 patients had laparotomies for staging purposes. The other operations included 59 celiotomies for diagnosis (21 had resection of organs), 42 abdominal operations for complications (malignant or nonmalignant), 11 radical node dissections, 6 radical mastectomies, 5 laminectomies, 4 thoracotomies, 3 bone operations, and 33 various other procedures. With the wider application of the exploratory laparotomy for staging and the improved survival with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it is obvious that the future role of surgery will be quite different from the past. However, certain patients will still require major surgery for diagnosis. In addition, second cancers, conditions unrelated to lymphoma, complications secondary to aggressive therapy all may need surgical management.