Adapted for the Canadian edition by Joseph M. Connors, MD
Hodgkin's disease, also called Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a cancer of the lymphoid system. It has special historical interest because it was the first malignancy of the lymphoid system to be described. The first cases were reported in 1832 by British physician Thomas Hodgkin, who recognized that this disorder was distinct from other causes of enlarged lymph nodes such as tuberculosis or other infectious diseases. Hodgkin's lymphoma has characteristic features that distinguish it from all the other cancers of the lymphoid system, and so these other cancers have come to be collectively referred to as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
Hodgkin's disease (HD) is an uncommon malignancy. Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas combined account for 6 percent of newly diagnosed cancers each year, with HD accounting for only 15 percent of all lymphomas. In 1995, about 800 new cases of Hodgkin's disease will be diagnosed in Canada out of a total of more than 125,000 new cases of cancer. Despite the relatively low incidence, it is an important disease because it afflicts adolescents and young adults and because it has a substantial cure rate. Treatment is approached with much optimism.
