Thymic cyst: Is attenuation artifactually increased on contrast-enhanced CT?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Thymic cysts are often misinterpreted as thymomas or lymph nodes, then leading to unnecessary thymectomy. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the adjacent large vessels artifactually affected attenuation values of thymic cysts on contrast-enhanced CT (CE-CT).

Methods

In this retrospective study, a total of 84 patients were included with pathological diagnosis of thymic cysts and preoperative CE-CT. Quantitative measurements of the size, CT attenuation of thymic cysts and CT attenuation of adjacent large vessels were performed on preoperative CE-CT. According to the absolute change in attenuation of the cysts between contrast-enhanced and nonenhanced CT, the patients were classified into the groups of artifactual hyper-density, unchanged density, and a

SUBMITTER: Wang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9671109 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature