IMO 1003 Perihepatic lymph nodes in patients with chronic hepatitis G and C

✍ Scribed by Christoph F. Dietrich; Christoph Sarrazin; Gerlinde Teuber; Jung-H. Lee; Wolfgang F. Caspary; Stefan Zeuzem

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 154 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0301-5629
• DOI: 10.1016/s0301-5629(97)80379-1

✦ Synopsis

Viral, bacterial infections and enterotoxins have been proposed as etiopathogenetic factors causing PBCTherefore we prospectively investigated the number and size of lymph nodes (LN) expressed as the total lymph node volume @NV) within the hepatoduodenal ligament (HDL) in 48 consecutive patients with PBC and in 43 healthy controls (hc). Methods: In the present study the LN in the liver hilus were evaluated by high resolution ultrasound (Acuson 128, 3.5 MHz) in 48 consecutive patients with PBC (age: 54 f 9 years, 5 male, 43 female) and in 43 hc (53 f 8 years, 6 males, 37 females). The tLNV of all detected LN was recorded for each region. The stages I-IV of PBC were biochemically and histologically proven in all patients. Results: In 43/48 patients with PBC (89.6%) and in 39/43 hc (90.7%) adequate visualization of the liver hilus was achieved. LN were detected in all patients with PBC and in 26139 hc (66.7%). The mean tLNV (mtLNV) was 22 f 16 cm3 in the PBC group compared to 1.9 f 2.0 cm' in the hc (p <O.OOOl). The mtLNV in patients with PBC stage I, II, III, and IV were: stage I (n = 7): 7. I & 4.0 cm3, II (n = 20): 17.5 f 10.8 cm', III (n = 15): 34.2 * 17.4 cm3, and IV (n = 6): 27.4 * 8.3 cm3, respectively. The differences between tLNV in patients with PBC stage I and II (p = O.OOS), stage II and III (p = 0.002) were signiticant, whereas no significance was observed between patients with stage III and IV @ = 0.2). Conclusion: Enlarged lymph nodes within the hcpatoduodenal ligament are sonographically detectable in almost all patients with PBC. This lymph node enlargement could reflect extrahepatic immunological activity and may be a marker of disease activity and could be helpful in the diagnosis and staging of PBC.