Giuseppe Petralia1, Sarah Alessi1, Josep Garcia-Bennett2, Paul Summers1, Sara Raimondi1, Roberto Di Filippi1, Luke Bonello3, Massimo Bellomi1, 3
1European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; 2Hospital St Joan de Reus, Reus, Spain; 3School of Radiology University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Surgery is the best option for patients with advanced melanoma, who would benefit from early detection of metastases. Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) with diffusion weighted sequences was feasible on advanced melanoma patients. It was performed with low dose computed tomography (CT) of the lung every three months, allowing for a 30 fold reduction of radiation exposure, when compared to the radiation dose that the same patients would receive if followed-up with whole-body CT. The following overall sensitivity (93%), specificity (89%), negative predictive value (99%), positive predictive value (52%) and diagnostic accuracy (90%) were observed for the detection of metastases.