MRI IN THE EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF VERTEBRAL M ETASTASIS FROM BRONCHOGENIC-CARCINOMA

MRI of the whole spine and radionuclide bone scan were performed prosp ectively on 50 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed non small-cel l lung carcinoma. The final diagnosis of vertebral metastasis was made by means of follow-up studies. The prevalence of vertebral metastasis was 24% (12/50 patients). The sensitivity of MR imaging (92%) was sup erior to that of radionuclide bone scan (67%) in the detection of vert ebral involvement, the specificity was the same (94%). MRI of the spin e was not useful as a screening procedure before treatment, but offere d advantages over radionuclide bone scan in patients with symptoms and when bone scintigraphy detected abnormal foci, including indentificat ion of additional vertebral metastatic foci and better analysis of the extent of metastatic involvement within vertebrae.