Extralymphatic Disease Is an Independent Prognostic Factor in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Abstract This study aims to identify the characteristics and outcomes of patients with extralymphatic HL. We performed a retrospective single institution study of 341 cases (207 (61%) males and 134 (39%) females) with a median follow-up of 44 months; 55 patients (16%) had extralymphatic disease. The sites were the lung in 29 patients (44%), bone in 22 (33%), liver in 5 (18%) and kidney in 3 (5%). In 46 patients (86%) only one organ was involved, while in 7 patients (13%) extralymphatic disease was present in 2 sites and in 2 patients (3%) in 3 sites. The extralymphatic disease group had a poorer prognosis than the lymphatic group. Complete remission (CR) rates in the extralymphatic and lymphatic patient subsets were 56% vs 71% (p=0.003), respectively. In our study, extralymphatic disease in pts with HL was a rare occurrence (16%) associated with a poor clinical outcome.