[Diagnosis of retroperitoneal lymph node swelling by computed tomography in advanced testicular cancer patients, with special reference to retrocrural lymph node swelling].
We tried to divide anatomically the retroperitoneal space into three areas on computed tomography, infrahilar, suprahilar and retrocrural spaces, and investigated the relationship between frequency of lymph node swelling in each space and clinical picture in 15 patients with testicular cancer of stage II or III, particularly focusing on the lymph node swelling in the retrocrural space. Lymph node swelling was found in the infrahilar space in 11 cases (73.3%), in the suprahilar space in 7 cases (46.7%) and in the retrocrural space in 6 cases (40.0%). Retrocrural or suprahilar lymph node swelling was always accompanied by suprahilar or infrahilar lymph node swelling. Most of the patients with retrocrural lymph node swelling had bulky tumors in the infrahilar level and frequently cervical lymph node swelling. Retrocrural lymph node swelling did not necessarily affect the patient's prognosis. The retrocrural lymph node seems to be a sentinel node for retroperitoneal lymph node swelling not only in the case of testicular cancer but also in the cancer of urogenital malignancies.
D000328:Adult; D004407:Dysgerminoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed