Cisterna chyli in patients with malignancy—Is there a correlation between changes in cisterna volume and progression or regression of the tumor?

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential correlation between the size of the cisterna chyli (CC) and the tumor size in patients with malignancies on computed tomography (CT). Materials and methods Out of a 3000 patient cohort 138 patients with histologically confirmed malignant disease, a detectable CC on CT and at least two CT scans within a 6 month period were included in this retrospective study. Out of 525 scans a total of 711 lesion intervals were evaluated. The volume of the CC and all target lesions (up to three per scan) were recorded. The Pearson correlation coefficient for the two parameters of changes in lesion size and CC size was calculated for the whole cohort and for a 33 patient subgroup that included only patients with tumors that showed the closest association with large CC in a previous study. Results The mean difference in lesion size for all 711 intervals was −1165 μl. The mean difference in CC size for all 711 intervals was −46.6 μl. The respective Pearson correlation coefficient was .05 with a non-significant p -value of .1823 (subgroup: r  = .04, p  = .6358). Conclusion No significant correlation between the progression or regression of malignant disease and the size of the cisterna chyli could be found.