Medical Questions » Cancer Questions » Question No. 192
| Question: | My brother has Hodgkin' s disease and I am told it is serious. He lives a long way from me, and I don' t like to crossexamine him on the phone about his problem. Can you please explain this condition for me? |
| Answer: | Hodgkin' s disease is a form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes, the spleen and liver. Its cause is not known, and it may spread widely through the body before it is detected. Surgery plays a relatively minor part in its treatment because of the insidious way it spreads through large areas of the body.
Treatment is primarily by drugs and irradiation. The drugs can often control or destroy the cancerous cells, and concentrated areas can be destroyed by high-energy X-rays. The survival rate depends on the stage at which the disease is detected. Early detection of all cancers gives a better outcome. Those with the first stages of Hodgkin' s disease have an 85% chance of cure, while in advanced cases the survival rate drops below 20%.
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