Etiological Observations in 36 Patients With Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Abstract

Background/aim: Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) accounts for 1% of cancers and is of largely unknown pathogenesis. This study intended to find clues about potential causes (etiology) of HL through observations on patients and their families.

Patients and methods: In 37 years of a medical oncology practice in Basel, Switzerland, 36 out of 2201 patients (1.6%) had HL. Etiological information has been obtained from the patients with the help of a German translation of the NCI Medical History Questionnaire for Cancer Etiology, and through the study of their medical charts.

Results: Findings of etiological interest were observed in the medical history of 26 out of the 36 patients with HL; these findings were grouped as follows: benign tumors (25%), carcinogenic exposures (19%), immunologic disorders (19%), secondary malignancies (14%), infections (11%), congenital disorders (8%) and tonsillectomies (6%). Twenty-two out of 36 patients had one or more relatives with cancer.

Conclusion: Personal and family history of patients with HL is a readily available useful tool for etiology research. The fact that HL is frequently associated with other cancers in patients and their relatives points to causal genetic factors.

Keywords: Hodgkin's lymphoma; cancer etiology.