Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas

To the Editor. —In the March Archives, Armitage et al 1 and Fisher 2 reported on the increased frequency of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in patients previously treated for Hodgkin's disease. Twenty-nine cases have been reported in the literature. The authors also pointed out the increased risk of nonlymphoblastic acute leukemia among these patients. Solid tumors can also occur after treatment for Hodgkin's disease. Different authors draw attention to this possibility. 3-7 Two authors have specified whether or not the solid tumors occur within the irradiation field (IF). 3,5 Arseneau et al 3 described three solid tumors within the IF among 427 patients. All the patients were treated by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Baccarani et al 5 followed up 613 patients with Hodgkin's disease and five patients with solid tumors (one after chemotherapy alone, one after radiotherapy and chemotherapy far from the IF, and three after radiotherapy and chemotherapy within the IF). We