Staging of malignant lymphoma with three-station black-blood fast short-inversion time inversion recovery (STIR).
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of three-station black-blood fast short-inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) imaging in detecting and staging malignant lymphoma.


METHODS
Seventeen patients with malignant lymphoma were examined with a 1.5T imager. The findings and stagings determined with three-station black-blood fast STIR imaging were compared with reference standards (e.g., computed tomography [CT] findings and clinical stagings).


RESULTS
Three-station black-blood fast STIR imaging provided a fat-suppressed T2-weighted imaging contrast with fewer flow artifacts and revealed nodal involvement as well as bone marrow and spleen involvement to an extent comparable with CT. Especially notable was the excellent specificity (94%) of this imaging technique. Regarding disease staging, significant agreement was observed between clinical staging (k=0.60) and staging as evaluated by three-station black-blood fast STIR, although the detection of lymphadenopathy in the thorax was relatively poor. The average time required for this imaging was approximately 30 min.


CONCLUSIONS
Three-station black-blood fast STIR MR imaging may be useful as a staging tool for malignant lymphoma because this imaging technique reveals lymphoma lesions, which determine the staging, without radiation exposure or the use of contrast agents.
Amano
Yasuo
Y
Department of Radiology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. ya-amano@nms.ac.jp
Tajika
Kenji
K
Uchiyama
Nachiko
N
Takahama
Katsuya
K
Dan
Kazuo
K
Kumazaki
Tatsuo
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed