Diagnostic and functional imaging of thymic and mediastinal involvement in lymphoproliferative disorders

Adriano Massimiliano Priola1, Giorgio Galetto2, Sandro Massimo Priola1

  • 1Department of Radiology, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Orbassano, Torino, Italy.

Clinical Imaging
|July 7, 2014
PubMed

Lymphoproliferative disorders of the anterior mediastinum may involve the thymus or lymph nodes as part of disseminated disease or as an isolated site. Imaging is crucial in managing patients with mediastinal lymphoma and is employed in pretreatment assessment, midtreatment evaluation of response, posttreatment restaging, and surveillance during follow-up. For decades, computed tomography (CT) has been the standard imaging technique, although in the last years, positron emission tomography (PET)-CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been introduced. We discuss the role of different imaging techniques in the assessment of patients with mediastinal lymphoma, focusing on novel aspects of PET-CT and diffusion-weighted/MRI.

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