Comparison of whole body MRI and radioisotope bone scintigram for skeletal metastases detection.

OBJECTIVE

To compare whole body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using fast sequences with radioisotope bone scintigraphy (BS) for the detection of metastases in the entire skeleton.

METHODS AND

RESULTS

In forty-four patients suffering from carcinoma of lung, breast and prostate whole body MRI could generally be accomplished in about 39 minutes and it was shown to have a higher skeletal metastases detection compared with BS in the spine, pelvis, limb bones, sternum, scapula, and clavicle, but lower in the ribs and skull.

CONCLUSIONS

We think for addressing the status of skeletal metastases only, bone scintigram is still preferred over whole body MRI. When bone scintigram is unavailable, whole body MRI is a practical and acceptable alternative especially when extra-osseous metastases are also of concern.