Correlation of CT signs with lymphatic metastasis and pathology of neuroblastoma in children

Correlation between computed tomography (CT) signs, lymphatic metastasis and pathological features of neuroblastoma (NB) in children was investigated. A total of 374 child patients diagnosed with NB via CT scan and pathological section in Department of Pediatric of Xuzhou Children's Hospital from March 2011 to January 2017 were collected, and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. According to CT signs, NB calcification and invasion to surrounding tissues were evaluated, and the tumor site, tumor size, lymphatic metastasis, pathological types and clinical prognosis were analyzed. In plain CT scan, 160 cases showed clear tumor mass, and 214 cases showed blurred mass; 78 cases of tumors were uniform in density, and 296 cases were not uniform in density. Besides, there were 351 cases of calcification in mass. There were 106 cases of axial rotation of kidney, 53 cases of enlargement of renal calyce and renal pelvis, 66 cases of elevation of liver position, 71 cases of pancreas translocation, 26 cases of gastrointestinal tract translocation, 17 cases of vascular translocation and 12 cases of bladder translocation, besides 23 of the cases showed no significantly abnormal changes. Moreover, 211 cases had retroperitoneal lymphatic metastasis with soft tissue swelling in phrenic angle, abdominal aorta and renal hilum in image, and non-uniform annular enhancement or uniform enhancement in enhanced scanning. NB in right adrenal gland invaded the liver in 53 cases, invaded the kidney in 26 cases, invaded the psoas in 40 cases and blood vessels in 32 cases, and the remaining cases showed no invasion. A total of 68 cases were accompanied by pleural thickening, 34 cases by pleural effusion, 36 cases by tracheal compression, 38 cases by rib compression, and 40 cases by tumor invading into vertebral canal. Bone metastasis occurred in 182 cases; liver metastases occurred in 28 cases, and brain metastases in 35 cases. NB calcification was significantly correlated with pathological type, tumor site and lymphatic metastasis (p<0.05), but not correlated with tumor size (p>0.05); NB invasion to surrounding tissues was associated with pathological type, tumor site and clinical prognosis (p<0.05), but was not correlated with the tumor size (p>0.05). We concluded that patients with distal mediastinal mass identified by CT examination, accompanied by calcification, and invasion to surrounding tissues may suffer from NB. Tumor growth is closely correlated with tumor differentiation degree.