[Osteoplastic bone metastases in prostatic carcinoma: magnetic resonance tomography and bone marrow scintigraphy].

MRI of the vertebral column was performed in 28 patients with histologically confirmed prostate carcinoma. Besides routine spin-echo sequences all patients were examined with gradient-echo sequences using the chemical shift mode. In addition, in all patients bone marrow scintigraphy (BMS) was performed, and all results were compared with routine bone scan (BS). In our study BMS was not superior to bone scan. In contrast, MRI scan revealed solitary metastases in two patients with negative BS and BMS. Osteoplastic metastases showed a contrast enhancement in the MRI and could be distinguished from benign alterations.