Accuracy of Sonographic Elastography in the Differential Diagnosis of Enlarged Cervical Lymph Nodes: Comparison with Conventional B-Mode Sonography

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of sonographic elastography and B-mode sonography individually and combined in the differentiation of reactively and metastatically enlarged cervical lymph nodes.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Eighty-five lymph nodes (metastatic, n = 53; reactive, n = 32) from 37 patients were examined by both elastography and B-mode sonography in this prospective study. Elastographic patterns were determined on the distribution and percentage of the lymph node area with high elasticity (hard), with pattern 1 being an absent or very small hard area to pattern 5, a hard area occupying the entire lymph node. The cutoff line for reactive versus metastatic was set between patterns 2 and 3; patterns 3–5 were considered metastatic. B-mode sonographic diagnosis was based on the sum of scores for five criteria: short-axis diameter, shape, border (regular or irregular), echogenicity (homogeneous or inhomogeneous), and hilum (present or absent). The cutoff line f...