Whole-body DWI-MRI as an alternative to 18-FDG-PET/CT in the evaluation of lymphoma

Whole-body diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in lymphoma patients and its comparison with 18F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT).

This prospective study was performed on 33 patients with histopathologically proven lymphoma. Fifteen patients were diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), and 18 patients had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). All patients underwent PET-CT followed by DWI-MRI, and the performance of DWI-MRI was compared with PET-CT, taking PET-CT as the gold standard.

Agreement on staging between DWI-MRI and PET-CT was found in 30 out of 33 patients. The overall sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of MRI were 87%, 100%, 0.93, 100%, 96%, and 96.7%, respectively, taking 18F-FDG/PET as the reference standard.

Whole-body DWI-MRI is a highly sensitive method for lymphoma staging. It has excellent agreement with 18-FDG-PET/CT and is a great alternative for managing lymphoma patients without using ionizing radiation or an intravenous contrast agent.