Hodgkin's lymphoma in Pakistan: a clinico-epidemiological study of 658 cases at a cancer center in Lahore.

Objectives: To study the clinico-epidemiological profile of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) in Pakistan.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively studied all histopathologically proven cases of HL, who presented between Dec 1995 to June 2003 at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Hospital (SKMCH & RC). All the relevant information was obtained through the hospital based cancer registry and medical records of the selected patients.

Results: Six hundred and fifty eight histopathologically confirmed cases of HL were identified. There were 505 males and 153 females, with a male to female ratio of 3.3: 1. Patients ranged in age from 1 year - 84 years. The mean age at presentation was 23.8 years. Three hundred and twenty cases (48.6%) belonged to age group 18 years of age. Histopathologically, mixed cellularity (MC) constituted 63.8% of cases, followed by nodular sclerosis (NS) 19.9%, lymphocyte predominant (LP) 7.3% and lymphocyte depleted (LD) 1.2%. Early stage (stage I and II) disease was present in 43.9% of patients at presentation, while 56.1% patients presented with advanced stage (stage III and IV). The majority of patients (81.2%) presented with cervical lymphadenopathy.

Conclusion: The clinico-epidemiological pattern of Hodgkin's lymphoma in Pakistan manifested is similar to that observed in other developing countries, with male predominance, mixed cellularity as the commonest histological type, advanced stage at presentation and absence of bimodal age distribution.