Hodgkin's disease and the non-Hodgkin lymphomas

Survival rates for Hodgkin's disease as well as for non-Hodgkin lymphoma have improved considerably over the last 20 years. This dramatic improvement in control over these diseases is ascribed to improvement in histopathologic and staging classifications, clinical and pathologic staging techniques and, most importantly, innovative radiotherapeutic techniques and the emergence of effective multiagent chemotherapy. This group of diseases, which are defined as primary malignant tumors of lymphoid tissue, consists of two major categories, Hodgkin's disease and the heterogeneous group of diseases collectively referred to as the non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Although much of the diagnostic radiology literature often does not differentiate between Hodgkin's disease and the non-Hodgkin lymphomas, these tumors differ in their histologic structure, patterns of appearance, responsiveness to various therapies, and overall survival. Thus, they must be considered separately. Furthermore, there are sufficient differences between children and adults to warrant separate discussions in these age groups