Detection of bone marrow metastases in small cell lung cancer. Comparison of magnetic resonance imaging with standard methods

In small cell lung cancer (SCLC), bone marrow metastases are frequently detected by bone scintigraphy (BS) and/or unilateral bone marrow biopsy and aspiration (BMBA). In this study, the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of thoracic spine and pelvis was compared with BS and BMBA and its clinical implication was evaluated in 42 patients with SCLC. Patients were staged (including BS, BMBA, CT thorax, Liver ECHO) as limited (LD) or extensive disease (ED) before and after MRI. MRI was positive in 12 BS negative (P = 0.003) and in 14 BMBA negative patients (P < 0.001), while in 8 patients, MRI was the only sign of ED, which resulted in a decrease of patients categorised with LD from 52 to 33%. However, in this small group of LD patients, there was no significant survival difference between LD (MRI pos) and LD (MRI neg) patients. It is concluded that MRI can be of value in the staging of LD patients, but it has no influence on survival. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd