OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to assess the efficacy and reliability of whole-body turbo short tau inversion recovery (STIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting skeletal metastasis and to compare the results with those of bone scintigraphy. METHODS: Twenty-six patients with primary cancer (mean age=56 years, age range: 34-75 years) were assessed for bone metastasis with whole-body MRI and bone scintigraphy. Eight bone regions in each patient were assessed (total of 208 sites) with each of these 2 techniques. A turbo STIR sequence and panoramic table were used during MRI. Whole-body MRI and scintigraphy findings were compared with biopsy or follow-up imaging results. RESULTS: After at least 12 months of follow-up, 9 patients had bone metastases in a total of 31 sites. Whole-body MRI showed 29 metastases (94%) in the total 208 skeletal sites investigated in the 26 patients. Bone scintigraphy revealed metastases in 16 (52%) of the 208 sites. CONCLUSION: Whole-body turbo STIR MRI is a reliable method for screening patients with suspected skeletal metastases. This technique is also advantageous in that it reveals extraskeletal organ and soft tissue metastases.
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Frat et al. (2005) studied this question.
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