To assess the prognostic significance of a newer histologic classification of Hodgkin's disease (HD), microscope slides from the time of diagnosis of 312 clinical stage IA or B, IIA or B and IIIA patients were reviewed in 1987, 6–10 years after their participation in a radiochemotherapeutic trial ( 1976–1982 ). Overall, the diagnostic reproducibility of the Rye classification by the same pathologist was confirmed. However, a new analysis showed an improvement in the differential diagnosis between HD and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) by the identification of 24 NHL ( 8% ) amongst the patients originally diagnosed as HD. Most of the NHL identified on review had been classified originally as mixed cellularity. On review, none of the new histological subtypes of HD was significant for prognosis of relapse-free survival or overall survival. Only identification of NHL was shown to have an independent prognostic value on relapse rate ( P = 0.012) and on overall survival ( P = 0.10). It is concluded that diagnosis of HD by itself remains, in 1988 , the sole histologic factor influencing the prognosis of these patients.
