THE DIAGNOSIS OF HODGKIN'S DISEASE BY ASPIRATION BIOPSY

Abstract

Abstract 1. Among 242 cases of histologically proved Hodgkin's disease treated at Memorial Hospital for the most part within the past five years, the diagnosis was established by open biopsy in 228, while in 14 cases aspiration biopsy yielded a reliable diagnosis. 2. In the 14 cases of Hodgkin's disease in which the diagnosis was made by examination of the sectioned clot obtained by aspiration biopsy, the material was from lymph nodes in 9 cases, from a presternal nodule in 1 case, from the lung in 3 cases, and from the spleen in 1 case. 3. Among the 228 cases in which formal biopsy was used to prove the diagnosis, aspiration biopsy had been previously attempted but had been unsuccessful in 11 cases. Thus in 25 cases of the total number of 242, aspiration biopsy had been selected for good reason as the first method to try, and was diagnostically successful in 56 per cent of the group.