The results of laparotomy and splenectomy in the staging of 56 patients with Hodgkin’s disease are presented. Negative or dubious lymphangiograms were inaccurate in 37% of the patients who had abdominal lymph node involvement. Nonpalpable spleens were affected by Hodgkin’s disease in 39% of the cases. Palpable hepatomegaly is not a good sign for predicting liver involvement, nor are BSP or alkaline phosphatase determinations. In 55% of the patients with involved spleen the liver was still free of disease. The prelaparotomy clinical stage had to be changed in 43% of the cases as a consequence of the postlaparotomy results, permitting a more accurate therapeutic approach