[MR tomography detection of bone marrow infiltration by malignant lymphomas]

In a prospective MRT study, both healthy volunteers (n = 10) and patients with Hodgkin and non Hodgkin lymphomas (n = 32) were examined (lumbar spine, pelvis and proximal femura). A biopsy from the posterior iliac crest was taken in all patients. About one half of the patients showed in MR-images diffuse or patchy areas of decreased signal intensity in the regions of the bone marrow, while the bone marrow of the volunteers showed an almost homogeneous pattern with high signal intensity. Our findings observed by MRT in bone marrow of these patients corresponds with pathological results obtained from crest biopsies. In order to improve the diagnostic accuracy, a quantitative evaluation of the signal intensities in selected ROIs, referring to a standard, was used. This method allows to correct variations of the signal intensity due to technical reasons. As our results show, this leads to a better differentiation of border-line cases. MRT has the advantage to detect localised lesions outside of the iliac crest. In cases of negative crest biopsies, but suspicious areas in MR-images, biopsies could be directed to these lesions.