Computed tomography of abdominal paraaortic lymph node disease: preliminary observations with a 6 second scanner

Eleven patients suspected of having tumor involving para-aortic lymph nodes were studied with the Varian 6 second whole body CT scanner. All patients had a pedal lymphangiogram; six were abnormal. In three of these six, CT provided clinically important information on the extent of disease which was not detectable by other radiographic studies. CT scanning improved on lymphangiographic interpretation when large bulky nodes were only partially filled and when whole chains of nodes failed to fill. In both situations, the enlarged paraaortic nodes were well delineated on CT. The internal architecture and morphological abnormalities of small well filled nodes were better portrayed by lymphangiography. In the four cases in which lymphangiograms were normal and the one case in which the lymphangiogram showed reactive hyperplasia, the CT scans were normal.