[MDCT features and anatomic-pathological basis of lymphoid neoplasm in cervico-thoracic junctional region]

To determine the relevance between MDCT features and anatomic-pathological basis of lymphoid neoplasm in cervico-thoracic junctional region, we performed a retrospective analysis of 69 patients with lymphoid neoplasm (lymphoma: 41 patients; metastatic tumor: 28 patients) involving the cervico-thoracic junctional region for MDCT features and distribution of lesions. The relevance between MDCT features and the anatomic-pathological basis in this region were evaluated. Among all the 41 patients with lymphoma, 29 with NHL (70.7%), 12 with HD (29.3%). The lymphomatous lymphadenopathy mainly located in superficial lateral cervix (51.2%, 21/41) ,deep jugular chain (65.9%, 27/41), supraclavicular fossa (75.6%, 31/41), paratrachea space in anterior mediastinum (46.3%, 19/41), around aortic arch (56.1%, 23/41), aortopulmonary window (53.7%, 22/41), upper anterior mediastinum (41.5%, 17/41), subcarinal space (26.8%, 11/41) and paraesophageal space (17.1%, 7/41). 28 patients had metastatic lymphoid tumor. The primary tumor were nasopharynx tumor (5 patients), thyroid cancer (7 patients), lung cancer (10 patients), and esophageal cancer (6 patients). Most metastasis took stage by stage in the way of lymphatic return, but a minority of cases migrated jumpily. The main metastatic sites were: beside jugular chain (82.1%), supraclavicular fossa (75%), paratracheal in anterior mediastinum (60.7%), upper anterior mediastinum (64.3%), beside aortic arch (35.7%), aortopulmonary window (39.2%), and paraesophageal space (28.6%). So lymphoid neoplasms in cervico-thoracic junctional region were involving both lower cervix and upper thorax simultaneously. The MDCT features and main distribution of lesions correlated with the anatomic-pathological characteristics in this region.