Color Doppler Sonography in the Evaluation of Superficial Lymphomatous Lymph Nodes
- 1 April 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine
- Vol. 21 (4), 403-408
- https://doi.org/10.7863/jum.2002.21.4.403
Abstract
Objectives: We performed a retrospective study to document the sonographic and color Doppler characteristics of lymphomatous superficial lymph nodes.Methods: We selected 130 individuals who underwent sonography, color Doppler imaging, fine‐needle aspiration biopsy, and surgical removal of the nodes with the final diagnosis of lymphoma (87) and chronic adenitis (43). During sonography, for each node we considered the longitudinal and axial diameters, long/short axis ratio, visibility of the hilum, and the internal echogenicity of the node. During the color and power Doppler examination, we classified the nodes into 3 patterns: type I, “hilar normal”; type II, “hilar activated”; and type III, “peripheral.”Results: Sonographic evidence was not significant. With color Doppler sonography, 97% of nodes affected by non‐Hodgkin lymphoma, 94% of nodes affected by Hodgkin lymphoma, and 100% of non‐neoplastic nodes showed hilar vascularity. Type I seemed more frequently associated with inflammation, and type II was more frequently associated with lymphoma.Conclusions: The presence of peripheric subcapsular vessels, which is typical of metastasis, is definitely rare in lymphoma (with the possible exception of the uncommon subtypes of high‐grade lymphomas). The differential diagnosis between lymphoma and lymphadenitis is frequently impossible on the basis of sonographic and color Doppler patterns alone; therefore, clinical evaluation and biopsy are generally mandatory.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Distribution of Intranodal Vessels in Differentiating Benign from Metastatic Neck NodesClinical Radiology, 2001
- Does Anybody Know How We Should Measure Doppler Parameters in Lymph Nodes?Clinical Radiology, 2001
- Differentiation of Lymphadenopathy in Different Forms of Carcinoma with Doppler SonographyClinical Radiology, 2000
- Contrast-Enhanced Color Doppler Sonography for Evaluation of Enlarged Cervical Lymph Nodes in Head and Neck TumorsAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 2000
- Differential Diagnosis of Lymph Node LesionsInvestigative Radiology, 1999
- Vascular pathology of malignant cervical lymphadenopathyCancer, 1998
- Differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy: usefulness of color Doppler sonography.American Journal of Roentgenology, 1997
- Distinction between benign and malignant causes of cervical, axillary, and inguinal lymphadenopathy: value of Doppler spectral waveform analysis.American Journal of Roentgenology, 1995
- Differentiation of benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes with color Doppler sonography.American Journal of Roentgenology, 1994
- On the angiostrneture of lymph nodes in Hodgkin's diseaseVirchows Archiv, 1984