Christina Messiou1,
Sharon L. Giles1, David John Collins1, 2,
Faith E. Davies3, 4, Gareth Morgan3, 4,
Nandita M. deSouza, 12
1MRI
Department, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom; 2Clinical
Magnetic Resonance, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United
Kingdom; 3Haemato-oncology Department, Royal Marsden Hospital,
Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom; 4Molecular Pathology, Institute of
Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom
Whole body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI) offers an alternative to serum paraproteins and bone trephine for staging and response assessment of myeloma particularly due to its quantitative capabilities. This prospective study compared mean ADCs and histogram characteristics of marrow from whole spine, bony pelvis, femora and sternum between normal volunteers and patients with myeloma and between those with low as opposed to high burden of disease. Mean ADC and ADC histogram characteristics were significantly different between normal volunteers and myeloma patients and in those with a low compared to high disease burden making WB-DWI a promising quantitative technique for disease staging.