ABSTRACT
lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] has been suggested as a non-specific marker in many tumors including Hodgkin's disease [HD]. The aim of this study is to verify the relationship of serum LDH level to certain features at the time of diagnosis of HD. This study was conducted at the Medical City-Baghdad during the period of October 2000 till April 2002. The study included 54 patients with HD and 55 healthy control subjects. For all patients routine investigations and other specific investigations for staging purposes were done when possible. Serum LDH level was estimated in all patients and control subjects. High serum LDH levels were significantly related to advanced stages of disease [III and IV], presence of mediaslinal and/or hilar tumors, splenomegaly, and liver and bone marrow involvement, but not significantly related to histological types, B-symptoms, bulky disease, intraabdominal lymphadenopathy and disease relapse. The serum LDH concentration, at the time of diagnosis of HD, is significantly related to several features, many of them are well known poor prognostic features in HD