The clinical contribution of a uniform diagnostic and therapeutic protocol in Hodgkin's disease.

: In the period between 5 July, 1968 and 31 December, 1986, a total of 138 patients with Hodgkin's disease were treated at the Institute of Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine of the -- School of General Medicine of Charles University in Prague. In the initial period between 5 July, 1968 and 31 December, 1977 a 10-year survival of 28% and a disease-free survival of 64% were achieved in 29 selected patients. In the next period, the patients were diagnosed and treated according to the uniform protocol used by all centres in the Czech Socialist Republic concentrated in the Lymphoma Cooperative Group. In the whole follow-up period, 5-year and 10-year survival rates of 78% and 75%, respectively, were achieved in 112 surviving persons. The corresponding survival rates in complete remission are 65.5% and 62.5%, respectively. When compared to survival of our patients treated up to 1974, the 5-year survival increased from 40% to 70% in 1986. Improvement of therapeutic outcome is due to more effective treatment. Increased diagnostic accuracy and, thus, also improved disease classification, enables the choice of optimal treatment. The treatment efficacy is documented by restoration of the working capacity in more than a half (51.17%) of patients in our group.