The Radiographic Findings of Axillary Lymph Nodes with Fatty Infiltration

Objective To recognize the radiographic findings of axillary lymph nodes with fatty infiltration. Materials and Methods The MLO mammography of 436 cases in daily work were retrospectively analyzed for radiographic findings of axillary fatty lymph nodes, and compared with nonfatty lymph nodes. Results In all 436 cases, there were 178(40.83%) cases with lymph nodes, among these 104(58.4%) cases had fatty lymph nodes and 35(19.7%) cases had nonfatty lymph nodes ((P0.01).) The aspect of fatty lymph nodes were shown as a characteristic central or eccentric transparent zone with ill-defined margin, its diameter may be as large as 35 mm, and the average long or short diameter of fatty lymph nodes (13.8 mm and 7.2 mm) was significantly larger than that of nonfatty lymph nodes (7 mm and 5 mm) (P0.01).Conclusion Axillary nodes with fatty infiltration is a common radiographic finding on daily MLO mammography, which has characteristic radiographic findings, recognition of these findings can facilitate differential diagnosis.