Bone-marrow MR imaging before and after autologous marrow transplantation in lymphoma patients without known bone-marrow involvement.
OBJECTIVE
To study lumbar bone marrow by means of MR imaging before and after bone-marrow transplantation in lymphoma patients. Particular emphasis was paid to heterogeneity and to focal manifestations, i.e. appearances that could simulate tumor.


METHODS
Twenty-two patients who were disease-free for a minimum of 30 months after transplantation were studied in 107 MR examinations. Two radiologists visually evaluated coronal T1-weighted and short inversion time inversion-recovery (STIR) images.


RESULTS
T1-weighted images demonstrated a more heterogeneous marrow after transplantation than before it. Sharply defined focal low signal intensity areas appeared on this sequence in 5 (23%) of the 22 patients at between 21 and 60 weeks after transplantation. The mean age of these 5 patients was 48.4 years (range 42-54 years). The difference in age between these 5 patients and the remaining 17 patients, who had a mean age of 33.4 years (range 14-51 years), was statistically significant (p < 0.01, Student's t-test, 2-sided test).


CONCLUSIONS
Sharply defined focal low signal intensity areas may be seen on T1-weighted images of bone marrow in patients who are in complete remission after transplantation, particularly in those aged over 40-45 years.
Lien
H H
HH
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Montebello, Oslo, Norway.
Blomlie
V
V
Blystad
A K
AK
Holte
H
H
Langholm
R
R
Kvaløy
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012074:Remission Induction; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000379:methods; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous