Computed tomography, lymphography, and staging laparotomy: correlations in initial staging of Hodgkin disease.

One hundred twenty-one patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated Hodgkin disease underwent abdominal and pelvic computed tomographic (CT) scanning and bipedal lymphography. These studies were followed by staging laparotomy, which included biopsy of the liver, retroperitoneal and mesenteric lymph nodes, and splenectomy. Correlation of the results of the imaging studies with the histopathologic diagnoses revealed a small--but significant--increased accuracy of lymphography compared with CT in assessing the retroperitoneal lymph nodes. The theoretical advantages of CT scanning in detecting lymphomatous deposits in lymph nodes about the celiac axis and the mesentery, or in the liver and spleen, were not confirmed. In part this was due to the relative incidence and the small size of individual lesions at these sites in patients with Hodgkin disease at the time of initial diagnosis and staging.