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Updated: May 2, 2026
Whole-body PET/MRI of Pediatric Patients: The Details That Matter
Published on: December 19, 2017
Whole-body MRI for initial staging of paediatric lymphoma: prospective comparison to an FDG-PET/CT-based reference
Annemieke S Littooij1, Thomas C Kwee, Ignasi Barber
1Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Centre Utrecht/Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands, alittooij@hotmail.com.
Objective:
To compare whole-body MRI, including diffusion-weighted imaging (whole-body MRI-DWI), with FDG-PET/CT for staging newly diagnosed paediatric lymphoma.
Methods:
A total of 36 children with newly diagnosed lymphoma prospectively underwent both whole-body MRI-DWI and FDG-PET/CT. Whole-body MRI-DWI was successfully performed in 33 patients (mean age 13.9 years). Whole-body MRI-DWI was independently evaluated by two blinded observers. After consensus reading, an unblinded expert panel evaluated the discrepant findings between whole-body MRI-DWI and FDG-PET/CT and used bone marrow biopsy, other imaging data and clinical information to derive an FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard.
Results:
Interobserver agreement of whole-body MRI-DWI was good [all nodal sites together (κ = 0.79); all extranodal sites together (κ = 0.69)]. There was very good agreement between the consensus whole-body MRI-DWI- and FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard for nodal (κ = 0.91) and extranodal (κ = 0.94) staging. The sensitivity and specificity of consensus whole-body MRI-DWI were 93 % and 98 % for nodal staging and 89 % and 100 % for extranodal staging, respectively. Following removal of MRI reader errors, the disease stage according to whole-body MRI-DWI agreed with the reference standard in 28 of 33 patients.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that whole-body MRI-DWI is feasible for staging paediatric lymphoma and could potentially serve as a good radiation-free alternative to FDG-PET/CT.
Keypoints:
• Accurate staging is important for treatment planning and assessing prognosis • Whole-body MRI-DWI could be a good radiation-free alternative to FDG-PET/CT • Interobserver agreement of whole-body MRI-DWI is good • Agreement between whole-body MRI and the FDG-PET/CT reference standard is good • Most discrepancies were caused by suboptimal accuracy of size measurements on MRI.
