Effect of contrast medium on early detection and analysis of mediastinal lymph nodes in computed tomography

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratios created by the contrast medium in detecting lymph nodes.METHODS: In this study, 57 short-axis subcentimeter lymph nodes in 40 cardiac computed tomography patients with noncontrast-and contrast-enhanced phases were evaluated. The contrast-to-noise ratios and signal-to-noise ratios of noncontrast-and contrast-enhanced lymph node-mediastinal fat and aortic-mediastinal fat tissues were determined. In addition, lymph nodes in noncontrast-and contrast-enhanced series were evaluated subjectively. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in lymph node-mediastinal fat signal-to-noise values between the contrast and noncontrast phases (p=0.0002). In the contrast phase, aortic density values were found to be 322.04 +/- 18.51 HU, lymph node density values were 76.41 +/- 23.41 HU, and mediastinal adipose tissue density values were-65.73 +/- 22.96 HU. Aortic-mediastinal fat contrast-to-noise ratio value was 20.23 +/- 6.92 and the lymph node-mediastinal fat contrast-to-noise ratio value was 6.43 +/- 2.07. A significant and moderate correlation was observed between aortic-mediastinal fat and lymph node-mediastinal fat contrast-to-noise ratio values in the contrast phase (r=0.605; p<0.001). In the contrast-enhanced series, there was a significant increase in the subjective detection of lymph nodes (p=0.0001).CONCLUSION: In the detection of paratracheal lymph nodes, the contrast agent increases the detection of short-axis subcentimeter lymph nodes quantitatively and qualitatively. Contrast enhances and facilitates the detection of paratracheal lymph nodes.

Dergi

REVISTA DA ASSOCIACAO MEDICA BRASILEIRA

Yıl

2023

Cilt

69

Sayı

3

Sayfa

392-397

ISSN

0104-4230

eISSN

1806-9282

DOI

10.1590/1806-9282.20220869

WoS UID

WOS:000954015500001