title: Patterns of Hodgkin's disease at diagnosis in young children.
abstract: A retrospective analysis of 125 consecutive cases of Hodgkin's disease, seen at a pediatric institution, was conducted and 28 patients under the age of 7 years (young children) were selected for comparison with a control population, aged 7 or more years. Male to female ratios were: young children, 4.6:1 vs. 1.2:1 for the controls. Symptoms at diagnosis were present in 20% of patients under age 7 and in 42% of the others. Limited Hodgkin's disease (stages I and IIA) was found in 57% of young children and in 33% of the controls, while advanced disease (stages IIIB and IV) was diagnosed in 12% of young children and in 38% of the others. Histologic types differed as follows: the young group--lymphocyte predominance (LP) 21%, nodular sclerosis (NS) 50%, mixed cellularity (MC) 29%, and lymphocyte depletion (LD) 5%, vs. the controls--LP 5%, NS 73%, MC 17%, and LD 5%. Hodgkin's disease in the young child differs from that in older populations and appears to have a favorable distribution of prognostic criteria.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012737:Sex Factors