Computed Tomography-Measured Cranial Sternal Lymphadenomegaly Is Associated with Elevated C-Reactive Protein in Small Dogs with Non-Neoplastic Disorders.

Lymphadenomegaly is well described in dogs with neoplastic diseases but can also reflect inflammation. However, its role in assessments of inflammation is little reported in the veterinary literature. Lymph nodes are most easily assessed superficially through palpation, but computed tomography (CT) enables the evaluation of deep lymph nodes. Accordingly, we investigated associations between the maximal lymph node diameter and plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell (WBC) count, as inflammatory markers, targeting three deep lymph nodes (sternal, cranial mediastinal, and internal iliac). We evaluated data from small dogs with non-neoplastic diseases that underwent synchronous CT and blood biochemistry at our institution. We found that the sternal lymph node diameter was significantly greater in dogs with clinically elevated CRP than those with clinically unremarkable CRP ( = 0.04) and significantly correlated with CRP (r = 0.32; < 0.01). We found no significant association with CRP for the cranial mediastinal or internal iliac lymph node. Thus, we consider CT-measured sternal lymphadenomegaly a clinically valuable finding for the comprehensive evaluation of systemic inflammation. We anticipate further research may highlight the utility of CT lymph node measurements for such evaluations.