[Ben47]

Hallo Michael

Hier noch was zu den erwähnten residualen Massen nach Behandlung.
Dies scheint ein normales CT bei kleinen Knoten auch nicht so richtig auszusagen

Gruss
Ben

Residual lymphoid masses after treatment?

Following treatment "a residual mass persisting on CT after treatment poses a common clinical dilemma: it may indicate the presence of viable lymphoma, which requires further treatment, or it can be benign, consisting of only fibrotic and necrotic tissues." PMID: 12644887

For this reason PET or Gallium scans may be used after treatment to help differentiate active disease from scar tissue.

NOTE: Lymphoid tumors are made up of the accumulated abnormal lymphocytes but also supportive tissue of different cell types: “epithelial cells and also there is supporting tissue, called connective tissue which is there to support the epithelial cells”. These cells are sometimes referred to in shorthand as tumor “stromal” cells.

Our understanding is that the macrophages (immune cells) will eventually "gobble up" this necrotic material after successful therapy, which explains why the treated “tumor” continues to shrink well after therapy is done.

NOTE: The delayed shrinking of lymphoid tumor can lead to questionable conclusions of the causal effect of subsequent therapy – standard, investigational, and alternative, because the tumor in some cases would have resolved with more time.