Inflammation and/or necrosis of tumors cannot account for fever in most febrile patients with Hodgkin's disease.
Inflammation and/or necrosis (I/N) of the tumor are generally believed to be a cause of fever in patients with Hodgkin's disease. However, there have been few studies in the literature which can corroborate this common belief. Inflammation and/or necrosis were studied in biopsy specimens of 140 untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease (57 febrile and 83 afebrile). In 37 of the 140 tumors I/N were readily observed; 18 were from febrile patients, and 19 from afebrile. Thus, it is evident that I/N cannot account for fever in the majority of febrile patients, necessitating an alternative explanation. Among the patients with I/N of their tumor, fever occurred most often in male patients and in virtually all patients who had histologic types other than nodular sclerosis. However, it was peculiarly absent in the great majority of patients whose tumors were of the nodular sclerosis type. This paradoxic inverse correlation of fever with I/N of tumors in patients with the nodular sclerosing histologic type has not been described previously.
D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009336:Necrosis; D012737:Sex Factors