Comparison of lymphangiography and computed tomography scanning in evaluating abdominal disease in stages III and IV Hodgkin's disease: A southwest oncology group study

Abstract

The authors reviewed the records of 139 patients who had laparotomy plus computed tomography (CT) and/or lymphangiograms (LAG) as part of a their staging workup for Hodgkin's disease, in accordance with Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) protocol 7808.They evaluated the relative ability of CT and LAG to detect disease in the abdomen.Two regions of the abdomen were designated, the upper and the lower, to further examine the capabilities of CT and LAG in the lower abdomen and CT in the upper abdomen.A LAG was more sensitive (P < 0.05) than CT in detecting positive lower abdominal nodes.In the upper abdomen, CT scan had low sensitivity for detecting positive nodes, liver, or spleen.This study suggests that LAG of the lower abdomen provided more information than CT, and therefore should not be abandoned as a valid method for detecting nodal disease.Cancer 662295-2299,1990.YMPHANGIOGRAPHY (LAG) is being used less com-L monly to evaluate abdominal and pelvic nodes in patients with Hodgkin's disease.Many oncology centers rely entirely on computed tomography (CT) to provide this information.However, we question the wisdom of abandoning LAG for this purpose.The preference for CT