THE APPLICATION OF ULTRASOUND CRITERIA FOR MALIGNANCY IN DIFFERENTIATING TUBERCULOUS CERVICAL ADENITIS FROM METASTATIC NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Tuberculous adenitis and metastatic nodes from Nasopharyngeal carcinom a may have a similar clinical presentation. Clinical examination and l aboratory tests alone are unable to differentiate the two. However, ul trasound is a useful initial investigation in differentiating these tw o conditions. We present ultrasound appearances in 33 patients with pr oven tuberculous cervical adenitis and 32 patients with proven metasta tic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The ultrasound features we found useful were the distribution of the nodes, cystic change, matting and surroun ding soft tissue oedema. The size, shape and internal architecture of the nodes, previously described criteria in differentiating benign fro m malignant nodes, did not help.