[Radiologic and ultrasonographic assessment in staging and in the evaluation of therapeutic effectiveness of non-Hodgkin lymphomas].

The data on the radiological and ultrasound examination of 912 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) are presented. Involvement of thoracic and abdominal lymph nodes and organs was recorded in two-third of NHL cases, with aggressive pattern, particularly, those involving the intestines, skeleton, pleura and pericardium prevailing (80%). In the nodular disease of the lung, pleura, breast and exophytic tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, the end results were much better. Prognosis was less favorable with perinodal infiltration and lymphangitis in the lungs, wet pleurisy and pericarditis, infiltrative disease of the gastrointestinal tract, breast and involvement of the small intestine. Sonography proved most effective in the evaluation of lymph nodes status (sensitivity--85.8; specificity--99.4%). However, only 10% of focal lesions in parenchymal organs were reliably detected.