title: Can whole-body magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging replace Tc 99m bone scanning and computed tomography for single-step detection of metastases in patients with high-risk prostate cancer?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Technetium Tc 99m bone scintigraphy (BS) and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pelvis and abdomen are universally recommended for detecting prostate cancer (PCa) metastases in cancer of all stages. However, this two-step approach has limited sensitivity and specificity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI (WBMRI) as a one-step screening test for PCa metastases.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred consecutive PCa patients at high risk for metastases prospectively underwent WBMRI, CT, and BS completed with targeted x-rays (BS/TXR) in case of equivocal BS. Four independent reviewers reviewed the images.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study compares the diagnostic performance of WBMRI, CT, BS, and BS/TXR in detecting PCa metastases using area under the curve (AUC) receiver operator characteristics. A best valuable comparator (BVC) approach was used to adjudicate final metastatic status in the absence of pathologic evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the BVC, 68 patients had metastases. The sensitivity of BS/TXR and WBMRI for detecting bone metastases was 86% and 98-100%, respectively (p<0.04), and specificity was 98% and 98-100%, respectively. The first and second WBMRI readers respectively identified bone metastases in 7 and 8 of 55 patients with negative BS/TXR. The sensitivity of CT and WBMRI for detecting enlarged lymph nodes was similar, at 77-82% for both; specificity was 95-96% and 96-98%, respectively. The sensitivity of the combination of BS/TXR plus CT and WBMRI for detecting bone metastases and/or enlarged lymph nodes was 84% and 91-94%, respectively (p=0.03-0.10); specificities were 94-97% and 91-96%, respectively. The 95% confidence interval of the difference between the AUC of the worst WBMRI reading and the AUC of any of the BS/TXR plus CT lay within the noninferiority margin of ±10% AUC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WBMRI outperforms BS/TXR in detecting bone metastases and performs as well as CT for enlarged lymph node evaluation. WBMRI can replace the current multimodality metastatic work-up for the concurrent evaluation of bones and lymph nodes in high-risk PCa patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Cliniques universitaires Saint Luc, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. frederic.lecouvet@uclouvain.be
authors.forename: Frédéric E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Lecouvet
authors.forename: Jawad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: El Mouedden
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Collette
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coche
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Danse
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jamar
authors.forename: Jean-Pascal
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Machiels
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vande Berg
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Omoumi
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tombal
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012306:Risk; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate