A Radiation-Free Approach Based on the Whole-Body MRI Has Shown a High Level of Accuracy in the Follow-Up of Lymphoma Patients-A Single Center Retrospective Study.

Background

Recurrence, even after years from the last treatment, characterizes lymphoproliferative disorders. Therefore, patients in complete remission from the disease should be followed up with periodic clinical checks. There is not a consensus on the role of imaging for this aim, because the radiological techniques used at the time of diagnosis expose patients to a risk of ionizing radiation damage. Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging (WB-MRI-DWI) has given similar results to gold standard techniques in detecting lymphoma in the involved sites without ionizing radiation. In this retrospective real-life study, we aimed to assess the accuracy of WB-MRI-DWI during follow-ups of lymphoma patients in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV).

Methods

Lymphoma patients who were subject to at least one WB-MRI-DWI during follow-up between February 2010 and February 2022 were enrolled.

Results

Based on our investigation, the calculated sensitivity of WB-MRI-DWI was 100% (95% CI: 99.4-100.0), the specificity was 98.6% (95% CI: 97.4-99.3), PPV was 79% (95% CI: 75.9-81.9), and NPV was 100% (95% CI: 99.4-100.0).

Conclusions

Despite the possibility of poor patient compliance and the identification of false positives, WB-MRI-DWI examination demonstrated an excellent sensitivity in ruling out the disease relapse.