title: Comparison of imaging methods in POEMS syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  POEMS syndrome is a clinical condition with a very heterogeneous clinical manifestation. Its presentation as well as monitoring is complex and dependent on the clinician's experience. One of the leading presenting symptoms is based on evaluation of skeletal damage with typical osteosclerotic or mixed lesions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to compare the usefulness of different imaging methods in the diagnostics of POEMS syndrome, such as conventional radiography, densitometry, technetium scintigraphy, PET/CT scan, MRI and angiography on a series of three patients with POEMS syndrome with different clinical manifestations and course of disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our series demonstrates different types of skeletal involvement in POEMS syndrome. Although conventional X-ray is the imaging method mostly used for the evaluation, its sensitivity and specificity is low. Under specific conditions, other imaging methods should be considered, giving a more complex outlook of the disease's skeletal involvement. Nevertheless, FDG-PET/CT confirmed its superiority in defining both skeletal lesions as well as the activity of the neoplastic process.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the different manifestation of the disease implies the necessity of a complex evaluation of imaging methods in mutual concordance. FDG-PET/CT emerges as the most contributive method for the evaluation of both the extent and activity of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine III - Nephrology, Rheumatology and Endocrinology, University Hospital Olomouc, Czech Republic. abretina@email.cz
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minarik
authors.forename: Vlastimil
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Scudla
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bacovsky
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pika
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ctvrtlik
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Metelkova
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Myslivecek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D010026:Osteosclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016878:POEMS Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed