RHEUMATIC MANIFESTATIONS AT PRESENTATION OF HODGKINS-DISEASE AND NON-HODGKINS MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA

The authors report the findings of a national survey conducted at the request of the French Society for Rheumatology to list the rheumatic manifestations that can be inaugural in Hodgkin's disease or non-hodgkin's malignant lymphoma. This was an exploratory, retrospective, descriptive study of 146 patients from 22 rheumatology departments. A number of clinical features (young male, nocturnal sweats, generalized pruritus, protracted fever, central or peripheral lymphadenopathy) and laboratory test abnormalities (evidence of severe inflammation) considerably increased the likelihood of Hodgkin's disease rather than malignant lymphoma. The diagnosis of bony involvement requires multidisciplinary studies of tumor specimens.