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Thirty-one (58 per cent) of a group of fifty-three unselected patients with stage II-IV favourable prognosis non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were regarded as being eligible for a prospective study of no initial therapy. Seventeen of these patients (55 per cent) have required no treatment for periods from 6 + -47 + months, (median 18 months) and fourteen patients have been treated with chemotherapy for progressive disease after a period varying from 3-40 months (median 9.5 months). Selected asymptomatic patients with non-bulky disease may be suitable for no initial therapy. Randomized prospective trials will be needed to test whether survival is affected by delaying therapy.

The clinical course, diagnosis and management of nine cases of hypoplastic acute myelogenous leukaemia are described. Such cases may follow a slowly progressive course and should not receive anti-leukaemic chemotherapy unless the disease is advancing rapidly or unless some specific complication develops. If chemotherapy has to be given, usually because of severe and recurrent infections, then prompt and prolonged remission of disease may occur.

One hundred and thirty-seven patients with small cell carcinoma of the bronchus underwent bone marrow trephine and/or aspirate examination as part of their clinical staging. Twenty-four patients (17.5 per cent) were found to have malignant marrow infiltration. In no case was this an isolated finding of metastatic disease, indeed most patients had gross metastatic spread to liver and/or bone. Marrow infiltration has not been shown to be a major prognostic factor in response to chemotherapy or survival in previous studies. We recommend that this staging procedure be discontinued in routine clinical practice, and instead be confined to specific indications in clinical trials.