[Computed tomography in the diagnosis of abdominal and retroperitoneal lymphosarcomas]

Analysis of the data of 87 computer-aided tomographic examinations of patients with peritoneal and retroperitoneal lymphosarcomas permitted the authors single out a peculiar computer-tomographic "semeiotics" of this condition. Four states in computer-tomographic changes of the lymph nodes in this area were distinguished, each of them corresponding to specific clinical manifestations of the suffering. The authors came to such a conclusion as a result of detecting in the same 18 patients of a clear-cut correlation between the type of computer-tomographic semeiotics and lymphosarcoma phase in the process of therapy and after it, during remission. Not denying a high value of computer-aided tomography in the diagnosis of peritoneal and retroperitoneal lymphosarcomas, the authors confirm the well-known diagnostic potentialities of ultrasonic examination and consider that ultrasound should remain the primary diagnostic instrument in such conditions.