Purpose: To evaluate whether enhancement on serial dynamic gadolinium-enhanced abdominal-pelvic MR imaging (DCE-MRI) can determine the acuity of bone metastases.
Materials and methods: Twenty consecutive patients who underwent abdominal-pelvic DCE-MRI for evaluation/staging of a proven cancer and had bone metastases were included. Two radiologists analyzed in consensus 59 DCE-MRIs of these patients. Region of interest measurements were performed in up to three lesions on noncontrast T1-weighted, serial hepatic arterial dominant phase (HADP), early hepatic venous phase (EHVF), and interstitial phase (IP) postgadolinium images, and the percentage enhancement of 134 lesions was calculated. The coordinator separately and retrospectively sorted the lesions into three groups based on the imaging and clinical information: acute/active, subacute, and chronic metastases.
Results: The mean percentage enhancement of the bone metastases classified as acute/active, subacute, and chronic in the HADP, EHVP and IP were respectively (%): 134, 107, 99; 87, 86, 87; and 39, 65, 73. In the HADP, acute/active lesions enhanced significantly more than both subacute (1.53-fold) and chronic (3.4-fold) lesions (P < 0.01). Time intensity curves were significantly different between these three entities as well.
Conclusion: The enhancement on arterial phase images and the time-intensity curves were different for acute/active, subacute, and chronic bone metastases.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.