Thomas Kwee1, Rob Fijnheer2, Inge
Ludwig3, Henritte Quarles van Ufford1, Cuno Uiterwaal4,
Marc Bierings5, Taro Takahara1, Rutger-Jan Nievelstein1
1Department of Radiology, University
Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Department of
Hematology, Meander Medical Center, Amersfoort, Netherlands; 3Department
of Hematology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 4Julius
Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center
Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 5Department of Pediatric
Hematology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
This
study aimed to determine the value of whole-body MRI, including diffusion-weighted
imaging (DWI), for diagnosing bone marrow involvement in malignant lymphoma
using blind bone marrow biopsy (BMB) as reference standard. To that end, 48
consecutive patients with newly diagnosed malignant lymphoma prospectively
underwent whole-body MRI (T1-weighted and short inversion time inversion
recovery [n=48] and DWI [n=44]) and BMB of the posterior iliac crest.
Whole-body MRI (without and with DWI) was negative for bone marrow
involvement in a considerable proportion of patients with a positive BMB.
Therefore, whole-body MRI cannot replace BMB for bone marrow assessment in
malignant lymphoma yet.