Ruiz I, Ocana I, Sureda D, Boye R, Grive E, Barbera J, Martinez Vazquez JM; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1992 Jul 19-24; 8: 114 (abstract no. PuB 7391).

Servicio de MI-Patologia Infecciosa, Hospital General Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona.

OBJECTIVES: To look for the usefulness of abdominal sonography, as a non invasive method, in the differential diagnosis of the lymphadenopathic process in HIV patients. METHOD: Abdominal sonograms were made on 235 HIV patients who presented symptoms and complications related to HIV infection. We selected 55 HIV patients which presented abdominal lymphadenopathy. Sonography was performed with real-time sector scanners using 3.5 MHz transducers noting the presence of lymph nodes, its size, location and echogenicity; as well as, the size of the liver or spleen. The clinical diagnoses were always made by microbiological and/or histological criteria. RESULTS: Subjects were 48 men and 7 women aged 18-59a. (mean, 29). Forty one patients (74.5%) were IVDU, 10 homosexual, 3 heterosexual and 1 haemophiliac. The etiology of lymphadenopathy was: disseminated tuberculosis (DT) in 43 patients which coexisted with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in 2 occasions, persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL) in 7 and neoplasias in 5 (4 non Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and 1 KS). In 50 patients the size of lymph nodes was greater than 1.5 cm. (43 DT, 4 NHL, 1KS, 2 PGL) and in 5 patients inferior (5 of the 7 PGL). Their location was retroperitoneal in 43 cases (38 DT, 5 neoplasias) and mesenteric in the other 12 (all the PGL patients and in 5 DT). The ecogenicity was variable: 16 were hyperechoic, 25 hypoechoic and 14 heterogeneous. Fifty patients presented enlarged liver and 11 splenomegaly coexisting those megalias in 20 cases. CONCLUSIONS: 1.-To find abdominal lymph nodes larger than 1.5 cm and with a retroperitoneal location suggests disseminated tuberculosis or neoplasia which justifies the practice of more aggressive explorations in order to differentiate both etiological processes. 2.- In a patient under suspicion of DT, the sonography finding of retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy larger than 1.5 cm, greatly enhances that diagnosis.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Abdomen
• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Diagnosis, Differential
• Disease Progression
• Female
• HIV Seropositivity
• Homosexuality
• Humans
• Lymph Nodes
• Lymphatic Diseases
• Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin
• Male
• Mesentery
• Retroperitoneal Space
• Sarcoma, Kaposi
• Tuberculosis
• diagnosis
• ultrasonography

Other ID:

• 92403447

UI: 102201161

From Meeting Abstracts