Bone Marrow Involvement and Myelofibrosis in Hodgkin’s Disease

555 Abstract: The importance of bone marrow biopsy in Hodgkin’s disease is well known. The incidence of bone marrow involvement in Hodgkin’s disease varies from 2% to 29%. The presence of myelofibrosis is not sufficent evidence for a definitive diagnosis of bone marrow involvement. Patients having myelofibrosis as a first symptom without peripheral lympadenopathy must be distinguished from patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis. In this study, we examined the frequency of bone marrow involvement and the degree of myelofibrosis in Hodgkin’s disease. We found the incidence of bone marrow involvement to be 5.26%, and that of myelofibrosis to be 31.6%. The high incidence of myelofibrosis in Hodgkin’s disease suggests that Hodgkin’s disease must be investigated for early diagnosis and therapy in the case of idiopathic myelofibrosis.