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Case 18 - T Cell Lymphoma, lymphadenopathy

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0:01

Let's look at this patient.

0:03

And there was bilateral

0:07

neck mass thought to be represent lymph nodes.

0:11

So we start from above in the brain.

0:13

We look over the brain,

0:14

parenchyma, look over the blood vessels.

0:17

They look fine. Looking at the orbits,

0:19

no abnormalities.

0:20

We come into the parotid glands

0:22

and no apparent abnormality

0:25

in the parotid glands. We come to the nasopharynx.

0:27

As I look through the aerodigestive system,

0:29

usually I'm thinking in terms of the anatomy

0:32

of the aerodigestive system.

0:34

So I look at the nasopharynx,

0:36

I look at the oropharynx, I look at the oral cavity,

0:40

I look at the supraglottic larynx, the hypopharynx,

0:46

the glottic larynx, the subglotic larynx,

0:49

the thyroid gland,

0:52

the esophagus, and the trachea.

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So those are the aerodigestive system

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sections of the anatomy, and

0:59

they all look pretty good.

1:01

The reason why this is important is because the

1:03

next thing to look at are the spaces of the neck.

1:07

And we immediately see that we have markedly

1:09

enlarged lymph nodes bilaterally

1:12

in the jugular chains.

1:16

One of these lymph nodes that's necrotic appears

1:19

to be in the level five chain behind

1:21

the sternocleidomastoid muscle.

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And you see that also on the left side

1:27

with a necrotic lymph node.

1:29

Now,

1:29

this is a bilateral process with

1:31

enlarged lymph nodes.

1:33

We do not see an aerodigestive system

1:36

primary tumor. So again,

1:39

we are going to be worried about inflammatory

1:41

conditions such as tuberculosis or Kawasaki

1:45

disease or Kimura's disease, or some of the

1:49

more bizarre other lymph node lesions, including

1:54

sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy,

1:58

Rosai-Dorfman syndrome, et cetera.

2:02

In this case, we're going to continue

2:04

on and look into the mediastinum.

2:06

We want to see whether there's any

2:07

lymphadenopathy in the mediastinum or in the hilar

2:11

region that would suggest a possibility

2:13

of something like sarcoidosis.

2:16

Don't see that in this particular case.

2:18

So here, when we have these big massive lymph nodes

2:24

and they have areas with or without necrosis,

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we also want to consider the diagnosis of lymphoma.

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Lymphoma can lead to bilateral lymphadenopathy

2:37

maybe in the supraclavicular region.

2:40

But in this case, the final diagnosis

2:44

was a T-cell lymphoma.

2:47

I want to just make a quick comment about one

2:50

other finding on this case and that is the presence

2:54

of edema in the retropharyngeal space.

2:57

Remember that the retropharyngeal

2:59

is anterior to the longus colli,

3:02

longus capitis muscle complex

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but posterior to the pharynx.

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So we see edema in this individual,

3:09

not a collection

3:11

but just low-density edema in the retropharyngeal

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space extending to the glottic level.

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This may be on the basis of some element of

3:21

lymphoid obstruction secondary

3:24

to the patient's lymphoma.

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We'll talk about the retropharyngeal space

3:29

shortly and how to distinguish retropharyngeal

3:33

edema from retropharyngeal phlegmon, from

3:36

retropharyngeal abscess from retropharyngeal

3:40

necrotizing lymphadenitis.

3:42

In this case,

3:43

necrotic lymph nodes, which we would normally ascribe

3:48

to an infection being caused by T-cell lymphoma.

Report

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Neuroradiology

Head and Neck

Emergency

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