[Pericardial involvement in Hodgkin's disease].

In 21 consecutive patients with recently diagnosed Hodgkin's disease echocardiographic examination was carried out before and after subsequent courses of polychemotherapy. In 5 persons more than physiological amount of pericardial fluid was found and additionally, in one of them an infiltrate of the epicardium. IVB clinical stage of HD was diagnosed in three pts and III B in two, what was substantially different from the findings in 16 patients without pericardial effusion (PE), where 50% had favourable clinical stages IIA-IIIA. All patients with PE disclosed a mediastinal mass greater in two than 1/3 of maximal width of the thorax, whereas in the group without BE mediastinum involvement was only found in 9/16 pts: in no case it was of bulky size. Out of laboratory findings a statistically significant decrease in T lymphocytes in the group with PE in comparison with that without is to be stressed which in turn showed significantly lower values than healthy subjects. The disappearance of PE after 1-2 courses of chemotherapy is in favour of the opinion of authors that pericardial involvement resulted from the underlying disease itself, not from an other cause.