The efficacy of lymphangiography in the staging of pediatric Hodgkin's disease

This is a retrospective study of 47 pediatric Hodgkin's disease patients, age 34 months to 21 years, mean 13.7 years, who had both a lymphanglogram and staging laparotomy between January 1, 1968 and December 31, 1984. Sixteen children had abnormal lymphangiograms but only five had histologically positive abdominal/retroperitoneal lymph nodes identified by staging laparotomy (11/16, 69%, false-positive). Thirty-one patients had normal lymphangiograms and three of these patients had histologically positive retroperitoneal lymph nodes (3/31, 10%, falsenegative). Overall accuracy of lymphangiogram diagnosis was 70%. Despite the reported high degree of accuracy of pediatric lymphangiograms by other investigators, we have not found this test to be helpful in the initial staging of pediatric Hodgkin's disease.