WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter announced yesterday that he has been diagnosed with the most advanced stage of Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare disease that is generally viewed as one of the most curable forms of cancer.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter

Specter, a Republican who won a hard-fought election in November for his fifth term, said he did not expect his illness to interfere with his duties as senator or as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the panel that will oversee President Bush's nominations for federal courts and possibly the Supreme Court.

"I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents; and I'm going to beat this too," Specter said in a statement yesterday.

He was tested for Hodgkin's disease Monday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia after having what his office described as "persistent fevers" and "enlarged lymph nodes" under his left arm and above his right clavicle. Subsequent tests at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia yesterday confirmed the late stage of the cancer. His aides would not comment on when his symptoms began.

Specter's oncologist, the University of Pennsylvania's Dr. John H. Glick, said in a statement that Specter had an "excellent chance" of being cured and noted that his form of the disease has a 70 percent survival rate over five years. Several other specialists yesterday agreed with that prognosis, despite the disease's advanced stage.

Specter will undergo an aggressive form of chemotherapy for six to eight months in Philadelphia, with treatments every two weeks -- fairly standard treatment for Hodgkin's, according to several Pittsburgh physicians who specialize in the disease. "Hodgkin's is extremely responsive to chemotherapy," said Dr. Mounzer Agha, a hematologist/oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Physicians at Abramson Cancer Center diagnosed Specter with stage IV-B Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. The "B" indicates that Specter had been suffering from "B" symptoms, which include fevers and weight loss. Stage IV means that it has spread beyond the lymphatic system to other parts of the body.

The cancer often spreads to the bone, but aides to the senator said a bone marrow biopsy had not shown cancer.

Agha said it is still possible that the bones could be involved. The liver and the lungs are two other sites where the cancer often spreads. Specter's office did not elaborate on other testing that was planned.

Specter's age -- he turned 75 Saturday -- could worsen his prognosis, but Glick emphasized that the senator wass in "superb physical condition," in part because he plays squash daily.

Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey superstar Mario Lemieux was just 27 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1992. Unlike Specter, his cancer was detected at an earlier stage, and he was cured with a series of radiation treatments.

Doctors say the two cases illustrate the "bimodal" aspect of Hodgkin's cases; the disease tends to strike young people and old people, but not middle-aged people, said Dr. Kathryn Faccini, a hematologist/oncologist at Allegheny General Hospital.

Specter will undergo a regimen known as ABVD chemotherapy -- an infusion of four drugs: adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine.

"By using multiple drugs that work in different ways, it's kind of like the one-two punch," said Dr. Elana J. Bloom, a hematologist/oncologist at Shadyside Hospital in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system. "You're trying to attack the Hodgkin's cells from a couple of different mechanisms."

The first successful chemotherapy for Hodgkin's was developed in the 1960s, and even that early form cured half of all patients with stage IV Hodgkin's, Faccini said. The newer ABVD is even more effective, she said, and has fewer side effects. The chemotherapy is infused every two weeks and usually is done on an outpatient basis.

Bloom and Faccini said the chemotherapy can help to reduce uncomfortable symptoms of the disease. Bloom said the severity of persisting symptoms among Hodgkin's patients varies, but she said many have been able to continue with their daily activities while they were being treated, some even returning to the office on the days when they receive chemotherapy treatment.

"Probably the vast majority of patients who I treat with Hodgkin's disease will continue with their work," Bloom said. "I know [Specter] is a very vigorous and spirited person, and those are the people that would probably tend to alter their activities less than others."

Generally, patients undergo chemotherapy for about four months and then are checked to see if the disease is in remission, Faccini said.

If the cancer is still present, several more chemotherapy infusions are performed. "We expect everything to go away completely with the chemo," Agha said.

Bloom said that if the disease recurs, it generally happens within the first or second year. "This is probably one of the most curable of all cancers," she said; after treatment, "if it hasn't come back in five years, those patients are almost all cured," Bloom said.

News of Specter's condition brought well wishes from all corners of the U.S. Capitol yesterday.

Pennsylvania's junior senator, Rick Santorum, who supported Specter in his difficult battle for re-election last year, said he had spoken with his colleague yesterday.

"His spirits are up, and he feels confident that he will get through this," Santorum said in a statement. "He is in great shape to undergo treatment to battle this disease."

Hodgkin's disease represents just a small fraction of all new cases of lymphoma. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 63,740 Americans will be diagnosed with lymphoma this year -- 7,350 with Hodgkin's disease and 56,390 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Incidence rates for Hodgkin's disease have declined significantly since 1990 at a rate of 1.2 percent annually, according to the society.

An estimated 20,610 people will die from lymphoma this year, 1,410 of those from Hodgkin's disease. The cause for most lymphomas is unknown.