Comparative Study of Ultrasonography and Manual Palpation of Cervical Lymph Nodes Metastasised from Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To analysis the differences between ultrasonography and manual palpation such as whether there are cervical lymph nodes metastasis from nasopharyngeal carcinoma,the number,the size et al before and after radiotherapy,and to explore the value of ultrasonography in examining lymph nodes of the neck of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods The cervical lymph nodes in 125 patients of incipient and recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma were given detailed examination with ultrasonography and manual palpation respectively before and after radiotherapy.Results Among 125 patients,302 lymph nodes were found with manual palpation,while 363 with ultrasonography.The missed detection rate of manual palpation was 16.8%,the false negative rate of double sides neck N 0and single side neck N 0 with manual palpation was 31.4% and 30.8% respectively.All the largest lymph nodes of 8 patients were all more than 4 cm by manual palpation but less than 4 cm by ultrasonography.5 of 29 recurrent patients were found that there were 7 lymph nodes of the lower part of neck besides upper part of neck with ultrasonography but there were none with manual palpation.There were significant difference in size of lymph nodes of 13 patients who were fat or overweight when measured by ultrasonography and manual palpation( P 0.05),and the remaines at the end of therapy which were measured with the two means were significantly different( P 0.05).Conclusion Ultrasonography was more accurate than manual palpation in measuring the lymph nodes of the neck of nasopharyngeal carcinoma,it should play an important part in clinical staging and in guiding treatment and in predicting curative effect.