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

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.