Hodgkins Disease in Children-A Clinical Case

Many head and neck disease processes manifest themselves as neck masses - congenital, inflammatory, and neoplastic diseases. Lymphoma is the primary malignant neoplasm of lymphoid tissue. Hodgkins disease has been considered a rare disease in the pediatric age group but the possibility of it should not be excluded. Failure of regression of a cervical lymphadenopathy after 46 weeks might be an indication for a diagnostic biopsy. If there is any suspicion of malignancy or in cases of persistent lymphadenopathy an excisional biopsy with microscopic examination of the lymph node should be performed. In this paper we report a case of Hodgkins lymphoma of the head and neck region in childhood in which the generally accepted algorithm of diagnosis and behavior regarding a non-specific lymphadenopathy was neglected. The biopsy and the diagnosis were delayed and the possibility of neoplastic disease was underestimated. We present also a review of the related literature.