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. 2020 Sep-Oct;34(5):2721-2725.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.12093.

Computed Tomography of Lymph Node Metastasis Before and After Radiation Therapy: Correlations With Residual Tumour

Naoya Ishibashi  1 , Toshiya Maebayashi  2 , Haruna Nishimaki  3 , Masahiro Okada  2
Affiliations

Computed Tomography of Lymph Node Metastasis Before and After Radiation Therapy: Correlations With Residual Tumour

Naoya Ishibashi et al. In Vivo. 2020 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Background: Computed tomography (CT) performed after radiation therapy (RT) is used to detect residual lymph node (LN) metastasis. Here, we investigated which LN parameters on pre- and post-RT CT images correlated with residual tumour in patients with head and neck cancer.

Patients and methods: We enrolled 23 patients who received RT. A total of 50 LNs were evaluated. Correlations between quantitative and qualitative findings and residual tumours were evaluated.

Results: The median patient age was 61 years. Thirty-one LNs were histologically confirmed to contain residual tumour. LNs with residual tumour had significantly longer short and long axes on post-RT CT images. A new finding of obscured margins after RT were significantly associated with the presence of residual tumour by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Conclusion: Comparison of qualitative, LN parameters on pre- and post-RT CT images may improve the detection of residual tumour in patients with suspected residual or recurrent LN metastasis.

Keywords: Computed tomography; head and neck cancer; histopathology; lymph node metastasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Drs. Ishibashi, Maebayashi, Nishimaki and Okada declare that they have no conflicts of interest in regard to this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Lymph node size comparison between patients. Lymph node sizes were compared between patients with and without residual tumour before and after radiation therapy (RT). *Significantly different at p=0.007 (short axis) and p=0.022 (long axis).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Histopathological residual tumours after salvage neck dissection. Representative contrast-enhanced computed tomographic images before (A) and after (B) radiotherapy, showing obscure margins (arrows) that were not present before radiotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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