The dtfferentiation between ana-plastic large cell lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease sometimes repre­sents a problem. Both diseases are dissimilar in prognosis and manage­ment therefore the aim of this work was to study 'he clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features that can differentiate between both diseases.
This work was carried out on 50 cases (30 HD and 20 ALCL), selected from Mansoura University Hospitals and from private cases in the period from 1995-2000. Exci­sion biopsies were done and stud­ied by routine histopathological tech­niques as well as by immunohistochemical stains including CD45RB, CD30, CD45RO, CD20, CDfSand EMA.
In this study we noticed that ALCL showed predilection for older age group, while younger age group was affected by HD. Males were more affected by ALCL while females were more affected by HD. Nodal in­volvement took the upper'hand in both HD and ALCL vs extranodal in­volvement.
It was found that the accurate diagnostic criteria regarding pattern
of growth, number and shape of blast cells and Reed Sternberg cells and detailed cellular morphology were the most differentiating features in 90% of cases. The most valuable immunohis­tochemical markers were CD30, CD15 and EMA that could differen­tiate between the problematic cases