[Whole Body Magnetic Resonance and CT/PET in patients affected by multiple myeloma during staging before treatment]

Recenti Prog Med. 2012 Nov;103(11):444-9. doi: 10.1701/1166.12886.
[Article in Italian]

Abstract

The diagnostic imaging plays a pivotal role in the staging of multiple myeloma (MM). Traditional imaging techniques allow a precise disease extension before treatment, but some drawbacks have been demonstrated after treatment. WBMRI and CT/PET represent alterative procedures during staging, but few comparative data are available to date. Aim of our study was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of WB-MRI and CT/PET in 28 consecutive patients affected by MM before therapy. CT/PET was positive in 22/28 patients, whereas WB-MRI correctly identified 100% of patients. In this setting of patients WB MRI have demonstrated to be superior respect to CT/PET in term of diagnostic accuracy, especially when a diffuse disease is detected with a bone marrow aspiration with more than 40% of plasma cells. WBMRI shows a diagnostic accuracy higher than FDG-CT/PET in staging especially when diffuse. However a whole body coverage is crucial to properly manage MM patients irrespective of which technique is used.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging*
  • Multiple Myeloma / diagnosis*
  • Multiple Myeloma / therapy
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Positron-Emission Tomography*
  • Prospective Studies
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed*
  • Whole Body Imaging*