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Not infrequently, CT scans detect enlarged abdominal lymph nodes in patients with advanced cirrhosis, and this may raise concern about the possibility of malignancy. In this study, 507 patients with end-stage cirrhosis had CT scans during the months prior to liver transplantation. Each scan was assessed for lymph node enlargement, and each patient subsequently had several nodes removed at the time of liver transplantation.
Exactly half the patients had enlarged nodes on CT scan, most commonly in the portacaval space and the porta hepatis. Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis had the highest prevalence of lymph node enlargement (86 percent), and those with alcoholic cirrhosis had the lowest (37 percent). However, by histologic examination …