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Possibilities for the cure of Hodgkin's disease
Author(s) -
Easson Eric C.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(196603)19:3<345::aid-cncr2820190305>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - medicine , reticulum cell sarcoma , disease , lymphoma , pessimism , localized disease , cure rate , surgery , cancer , pediatrics , pathology , philosophy , epistemology , prostate cancer
Analysis of more than 1,000 cases of Hodgkin's disease treated consistently at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, from 1934 through 1959 shows that, of those with clinically localized disease (slightly more than one‐third of the total), over 50% survived 5 years and about 40% may be expected to survive 15 years. Evidence is presented to show that survivors beyond 10 years should be considered “cured.” The treatment policy for the apparently localized cases consisted in essence of radical irradiation of the involved anatomical region. Lymphosarcoma and reticulum cell sarcoma cases, as well as a group of lymphoma patients in whom the histological classification was equivocal, were managed in the same way and the survival rates are slightly better than those for Hodgkin's disease. It appears that the general attitude of pessimism based on the idea that Hodgkin's disease is incurable is unwarranted and harmful in that it tends to come between the patient and the early choice of the most successful therapy.