[Venous relations in cervical adenopathy. Review of a series of 300 cases].

Three hundred cases of cervical adenopathies were reviewed in connection with head and neck cancers (205 patients) and lymphoma (95 patients). Overall, physical examination failed to detect such adenopathies in 83 cases. The echostructure of the cervical node was less echoic than that of the muscles in 111 cases (58 cases of lymphoma, 53 cases of metastasis), more echoic than the muscles in 185 cases (35 cases of lymphoma, 150 cases of metastasis), and nucrotic in 4 cases (2 cases of lymphoma and 2 cases of metastasis). Jugular vein thrombosis was noted in 78 cases (75 cases of metastasis, 3 cases of lymphoma); jugular vein compression without thrombosis was observed in 65 cases (35 cases of metastasis, 30 cases of lymphoma). Before histologic proof is obtained, jugular thrombosis suggests a diagnosis of metastasis, regardless of node size. The presence of nodular intraparotid lesions (12 cases) suggests lymphoma. By contrast, neither node size nor echostructure suggest the etiology of cervical adenopathies.