Clinical value of ultrasonography for the management of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients as compared with abdominal computed tomography.

In 50% of 84 ultrasonographic (US) examinations ordered for staging and restaging of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients, the abdomen and pelvis were not sufficiently visualized to allow diagnostic conclusions, whereas nondiagnostic studies were found in only 3% of the 102 computed tomographic (CT) examinations. Discrepancy about the presence and extent of disease below the diaphragm between US and CT occurred in 74%. The US underestimated the presence or extent of disease in nodal stations caudal to the pancreas more commonly than in other areas evaluated. Because of increased cost, patient inconvenience, and delay in therapeutic intervention due to repeat examinations, it is recommended that CT be used as the initial examination for staging, restaging, or following infradiaphragmatic disease in NHL patients.