Mediastinal lymphadenopathy common in severe CHF?

In severe congestive heart failure, lymphatic drainage can increase 10-fold. Pastis et al hypothesize this could result in enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. They retrospectively examined chest CT scans for 118 patients undergoing heart transplantation. Fifty-three had mediastinal LNs > 1 cm. In the 9 who had post-transplant CT scans available, mediastinal lymph nodes shrank after receipt of their new hearts. CHEST 2011;139:1451-1457.