The significance of a uniform definition of pathological lymph nodes in Hodgkin lymphoma: impact of different thresholds for positive lymph nodes in CT imaging on staging and therapy.

Abstract Background and Purpose The most commonly used approach for the assessment for differentiating malignant versus reactive lymph nodes is the measurement of the cross-section diameter of the lymph nodes in the transversal CT-planes. The intention of this article is to assess the impact of varying definitions of pathological lymph node size in CT-imaging in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and to evaluate its effect on staging, chemotherapy regimes and radiation field size. Materials and methods Pretherapeutic CT-scans of 10 consecutive patients with Hodgkin lymphoma have been evaluated based on two different definitions for malignant lymph node size; the classification of the German stu…