title: MRI for response assessment in metastatic bone disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Beyond lesion detection and characterisation, and disease staging, the quantification of the tumour load and assessment of response to treatment are daily expectations in oncology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bone lesions have been considered "non-measurable" for years as opposed to lesions involving soft tissues and "solid" organs like the lungs or liver, for which response evaluation criteria are used in every day practice. This is due to the lack of sensitivity, specificity and measurement capabilities of imaging techniques available for bone assessment, i.e. skeletal scintigraphy (SS), radiographs and computed tomography (CT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  This paper reviews the possibilities and limitations of these techniques and highlights the possibilities of positron emission tomography (PET), but mainly concentrates on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practical morphological and quantitative approaches are proposed to evaluate the treatment response of bone marrow lesions using "anatomical" MRI. Recent developments of MRI, i.e. dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), are also covered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • MRI offers improved evaluation of skeletal metastases and their response to treatment. • This new indication for MRI has wide potential impact on radiological practice. • MRI helps meet the expectations of the oncological community. • We emphasise the practical aspects, with didactic cases and illustrations.
authors: Department of Radiology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, IREC, Institut de Recherche Clinique, Centre du Cancer, UCL, Université Catholique de Louvain, Hippocrate Avenue, 10/2942, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. frederic.lecouvet@uclouvain.be
authors: F E
authors: FE
authors: Lecouvet
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Larbi
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Pasoglou
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Omoumi
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Tombal
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Michoux
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Malghem
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Lhommel
authors: B C
authors: BC
authors: Vande Berg
mesh_terms: D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media