Therapy results in Hodgkin's disease freiburg i. Br., 1948-1966

Abstract

Of more than 600 patients with Hodgkin's disease seen at University Clinic, Freiburg, 340 patients received their primary treatment in the Clinic from 1948 to 1966. The following results are reported: 5-year survival rate, 48 per cent; 10-year survival rate, 28.7 per cent; 15-year survival rate, 21.2 per cent. The remission rate after the first treatment was 81.5 per cent; after 5 years, 24.4 per cent; after 10 years, 20.9 per cent; after 15 years, 20.9 per cent. This group of 20.9 per cent can be considered cured. Therapy results depend on stage of disease, clinical form of disease (types A and B) and on method of therapy. Marked improvement can be achieved only through radiation with tissue-destroying doses. Chemotherapy is a palliative treatment. The possibility of eradicating the disease makes it necessary that a critical plan for treatment—with cure as its objective—be worked out in all cases.