Aims: The paper is aimed at evaluation of diagnostic yield of imaging methods in the examination of mediastinal residues of lymphoma tissue after the treatment of patients with malignant lymphomas. Materials and methods: In a pilot group of 12 patients with the diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma, who suffered from residual lymphoadenopathy after primary therapy, the examination of mediastinum by magnetic resonance (MR) was compared with all-body gallium scintigraphy 67Ga in order to confirm of exclude activity in the residual lymphoma tissue. The results of these examinations were compared with clinical development evolution of the patient’s conditions. Results: The results of MR and gallium scintigraphy were in agreement in all cases of evaluating the activity of residual mediastinal lymphoma mass in the group of patients with HL. In 11 patients there was an inactive fibrous tissue after successful therapy. The tumor tissue was active in one patient who did not reach complete clinical remission. Conclusion: Present experience in the examination of malignant lymphomas (particularly the structurally non-homogeneous HL) show that the type of MR signal reflects histological changes inside the tumor or the affected tissue (nodes). The advantage makes MR useful in clinical practice. When combined with the whole-body gallium scintigraphy with 67Ga-citrate this method could represent a valuable diagnostic alternative to PET as well as to PET-CT.

        Key words: magnetic resonance – CT – scintigraphy – malignant lymphomas – Hodgkin’s lymphoma – mediastinum