The Role of the Mediastinal Lymph Node Density in Assessing Severity of Pulmonary Edema: Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: Mediastinal lymph node density (MLND) on non-contrast computed tomography has shown potential as a diagnostic marker in thoracic imaging. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between MLND and the severity of pulmonary edema (PE). Material and Methods: This retrospective, double-center study was conducted on 80 patients with PE, categorized into interstitial edema (IE) group (n=40) and alveolar edema (AE) group (n=40), along with a control group of healthy individuals (n=73). IE was defined as fluid accumulation within the lung interstitium, and AE was defined as the progression of the fluid accumulation into the alveolar spaces. MLND was calculated by measuring the Hounsfield unit (HU) value within a circular region of interest. Results: Median MLND values were 34.0 HU (interquartile range 31.0-36.0) in healthy controls, 21.5 (20.0-24.0) in patients with IE, and 9.5 HU (6.3-13.8) in patients with AE, respectively (p