Original investigationComparison Between Malignant and Benign Abdominal Lymph Nodes on Diffusion-weighted Imaging
Section snippets
Patients
This study was performed retrospectively and is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act–compliant. The institutional review board approved the study and waived the requirement for informed consent for the retrospective patient data review. After a review of medical, radiologic, and pathologic records obtained between September 2004 and January 2007 in our institution, 28 patients with reported abdominal lymph nodes on MRI were included in the study who had their final diagnoses
Results
Twenty patients (13 males, seven females, ages 26–78 years, mean 54) were enrolled in the benign group and eight patients were enrolled in the malignant group (four males, four females, ages 43–79 years, mean 63). A total of 40 benign and 16 malignant lymph nodes were included in the study. Short- and long-axis diameters of the lymph nodes ranged between 8 and 18.3 mm (mean 11.5) and 8.8 and 39 mm (mean 16.8) in the benign group, respectively. The corresponding measurements for malignant lymph
Discussion
Cross-sectional standard imaging techniques such as MRI and CT are not specific for the diagnosis of metastatic tumors in lymph nodes. Increased short-axis diameter raises the suspicion for malignancy. However, smaller size lymph nodes may also harbor malignancy (4). Reticuloendothelial system–specific contrast agents have been used on MRI to determine lymph node metastases, but the contrast agent is costly and not widely available (5). Diffusion-weighted MRI has been shown to provide
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