A COMPARISON OF WHOLE-BODY TURBOSTIR MR-IMAGING AND PLANAR TC-99M-METHYLENE DIPHOSPHONATE SCINTIGRAPHY IN THE EXAMINATION OF PATIENTS WITH SUSPECTED SKELETAL METASTASES
S. Eustace et al., A COMPARISON OF WHOLE-BODY TURBOSTIR MR-IMAGING AND PLANAR TC-99M-METHYLENE DIPHOSPHONATE SCINTIGRAPHY IN THE EXAMINATION OF PATIENTS WITH SUSPECTED SKELETAL METASTASES, American journal of roentgenology, 169(6), 1997, pp. 1655-1661
OBJECTIVE. This study was undertaken to compare whole-body turbo short
inversion time inversion recovery MR imaging and Tc-99m-methylene dip
hosphonate planar scintigraphy in the examination of patients with sus
pected skeletal metastases. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Twenty-five patients
with known or suspected skeletal metastatic disease underwent both wh
ole-body turbo short inversion time inversion recovery MR imaging and
whole-body Tc-99m-methylene diphosphonate scintigraphy. RESULTS. MR im
aging revealed metastases at 57 of 175 possible sites (sensitivity, 96
.5%; specificity, 100%; positive predictive value, 100%). Scintigraphy
revealed metastases at 43 of 175 possible sites (sensitivity, 72%; sp
ecificity, 98%; positive predictive value, 95%) (McNemar test, 0.01; p
= .016). Discrepancies in skeletal evaluation by whole-body MR imagin
g and scintigraphy were observed in six (24%) of 25 patients. Soft-tis
sue abnormalities were identified in 13 (52%) of 25 patients with MR i
maging alone. CONCLUSION. Preliminary results suggest that whole-body
MR imaging is an effective method of examining patients with suspected
skeletal metastases, with better sensitivity than conventional planar
Tc-99m-methylene diphosphonate scintigraphy.