Advances in whole body MRI for musculoskeletal imaging: Diffusion-weighted imaging

Recent advances in imaging technology have enabled the acquisition of anatomical and functional imaging from head to toe in a reasonably short scan time. Accordingly, whole body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (WB-DWI) have gained recent attention for the management of musculoskeletal problems such as bone tumors and rheumatologic diseases. WB-MRI is especially useful in diagnosing systemic or widespread disease requiring whole body evaluation, such as bone metastases, multiple myeloma, lymphoma, neurofibromatosis, and spondyloarthropathies. Among WB-MRI sequences, the WB-DWI technique greatly increases the value of WB-MRI in the evaluation of disease extent and characterization as well as treatment monitoring. In support of the utilization of WB-MRI and WB-DWI in orthopedic clinics for various musculoskeletal diseases, we provide an overview of the technical aspects of WB-MRI and WB-DWI and their clinical applications in musculoskeletal tumors and rheumatic diseases.