Back to Previous Page To put this anatomy into practice there follows a series of scans of a patient with diffuse metastatic rectal carcinoma involving all the major lymph node groups. Contrast has been given to give maximum delineation of the vessels. These examples have been taken from a chart published in Radiographics 1999, Volume 19, which demonstrates the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) regional lymph node classification for lung cancer staging. A key to the abbreviations is appended below.

The following diagram shows the level of the CT sections:

In addition, the numbers on the images refer to the lymph node groups as follows: 1 Highest mediastinal nodes 2 Upper paratracheal nodes 3 Prevascular and retrotracheal nodes 4 Lower paratracheal nodes 5 Subaortic nodes (aorto-pulmonary window) 6 Para-aortic nodes 7 Subcarinal nodes 8 Paraoesophageal nodes 9 Pulmonary ligament nodes 10 Hilar nodes 11 Interlobar nodes 12 Lobar nodes 13 Segmental nodes 14 Subsegmental nodes N.B. Not all these nodal groups are demonstrated on the images.

Nick Reading

Department of Radiology

Whipps Cross Hospital

September 1999

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