Appearances of mediastinal and pulmonary hilar lymph nodes on thin-section CT: comparison with 5 mm slice thickness CT

AimThis study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of thin-section CT of the mediastinum in the assessment of thoracic lymph nodes in comparison with conventional CT.Materials and MethodsA total of 193 CT examinations from 193 patients with suspected pulmonary disease were reconstructed into thin-section CT and conventional CT. The appearances of the lymph nodes were assessed and compared between thin-section CT and conventional CT.ResultsIntranodal fat was more often detected on thin-section CT than on conventional CT (P<.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the frequencies of inhomogeneous enhancement and bulging margin of the hilar lymph node.ConclusionThin-section CT can improve clinical N-staging of lung cancer due to classification of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes as benign based on identification of intranodal fat.