What Is Hodgkin Lymphoma? Where Does Its Name Come From?

Hodgkin lymphoma is a hematologic (blood and bone marrow) cancer arising from the immune system's B cells. Most patients are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma between the ages of 15 and 30, but its incidence rises again at age 55.

Turkish Cancer Statistics reported 1520 new Hodgkin lymphoma diagnoses in Turkey in 2020, representing 6.5% of all new cancer cases. In the same year, 378 deaths due to Hodgkin lymphoma were reported, representing 3% of cancer-related deaths.

In the USA, an estimated 8850 new Hodgkin lymphoma diagnoses and 960 deaths due to the disease occurred in 2021.

• Related topic: What Is a Lymph Node, Where Is It Found and Why Does It Swell?

Hodgkin lymphoma is among the cancers most successfully treated with modern therapies.

The History of the Name Hodgkin Lymphoma – Eponyms in Oncology

Born in England in 1789, Thomas Hodgkin completed his education at the University of Edinburgh and worked at Guy's Hospital in London. He became known as an anatomist and social activist.

NOTE: An eponym is the naming of a disease, symptom, sign, surgical instrument, test, syndrome or general term after a particular person or place. Many brand names that have become product names, such as Aspirin, Heroin and Thermos, are based on eponyms. They are also widely used outside medicine; for example, the period from Elizabeth I's accession to the throne until her death is eponymously called the Elizabethan era.

In an article published in 1832, Dr Hodgkin described several patients with multiorgan disease. Their shared features were enlarged lymph nodes and spleens. Dr Hodgkin proposed “a connection between glandular enlargement... and the condition of the spleen”. Although structural abnormalities of the spleen had previously been described, Hodgkin's description gained importance because he characterized the disease's association with lymph nodes, morbidity and rapidly fatal course. Dr Hodgkin set aside the ineffective treatments given to patients and admitted that, at the time, nothing could be done before they succumbed to the disease. He thus provided a clinical description of a disease and also recorded important observations about its course.

Richard Bright, a contemporary of Dr Hodgkin, read his publication, and a new review was published in 1838. In 1856, Samuel Wilks published a new article without realizing that he was discussing cases already published in Dr Hodgkin's article. Dr Wilks described patients with lymphadenopathy and splenic enlargement, stating that he believed the relationship between the two to be an original observation.

However, after seeing Dr Bright's 1838 article, Dr Wilks credited Dr Hodgkin with the discovery and used the term “Hodgkin Disease” in his 1865 article. This eponym and attribution to Dr Hodgkin have since become established in the oncology literature.

Hodgkin Lymphoma Today

Treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL, formerly Hodgkin disease) is guided primarily by the clinical stage of the disease, as determined by the Lugano classification. Today, Hodgkin lymphoma is considered curable with modern medicine. Most patients are cured of their lymphoma; however, treatment-related adverse effects are among the causes of late deaths. Treatment selection must therefore balance the desire for a high cure rate against the need to minimize long-term complications. Patients with early-stage disease (stage I to II) are generally treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The amount of chemotherapy and radiation dose differ for people with favorable and unfavorable prognoses (disease courses). Combination chemotherapy is the main treatment for advanced-stage (stage III to IV) HL. Patients with resistant disease can achieve durable responses and remissions (disease-free periods) with second-line chemotherapy using drugs not given in the initial treatment, followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Patients with a second relapse (relapse) or progressive, resistant disease are also candidates for high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation.