title: Staging laparotomy for Hodgkin's disease in 69 patients.
abstract: Sixty-nine patients with biopsy-proven Hodgkin's disease were subjected to laparotomy, splenectomy, liver biopsy, bone biopsy, and para-aortic nodal biopsies between October 1970 and December 1975, and have now been followed for 5 years. There were no major short-term surgical complications. There was one death from septicemia in a splenectomized adolescent. Laparotomy with splenectomy provides more precise delineation of intraabdominal disease than other methods. In difficult or equivocal cases, staging laparotomy can help choose the best treatment regimen.
mesh_terms: D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology; D013156:Splenectomy