Objective: To determine the enhancement patterns and anatomic distribution of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes using contrast-enhanced multi-detector CT (MDCT) in patients with sarcoidosis.
Methods: We reviewed the contrast-enhanced MDCT features of 39 patients with pathologically or clinically diagnosed sarcoidosis, including the size, morphology, attenuation, enhancement patterns, and anatomic distribution of the enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes.
Results: Of the 39 patients, 85% showed homogenous enhancement and 15% showed homogenous mixed with peripheral enhancement. The enlarged lymph nodes were predominantly distributed in the regions of 10R (95%), 10L (90%), 2R (69%), 7 (69%), and 5 (58%).
Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced MDCT can detect the enhancement patterns and predominant anatomic distribution of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes, which is of great value for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis.