Present and future of whole-body MRI in metastatic disease and myeloma: how and why you will do it

Metastatic disease and myeloma present unique diagnostic challenges due to their multifocal nature.

Accurate detection and staging are critical for determining appropriate treatment.

Bone scintigraphy, skeletal radiographs and CT have long been the mainstay for the assessment of these diseases, but have limitations, including reduced sensitivity and radiation exposure.

Whole-body MRI has emerged as a highly sensitive and radiation-free alternative imaging modality.

Initially developed for skeletal screening, it has extended tumor screening to all organs, providing morphological and physiological information on tumor tissue.

Along with PET/CT, whole-body MRI is now accepted for staging and response assessment in many malignancies.

It is the first choice in an ever increasing number of cancers (such as myeloma, lobular breast cancer, advanced prostate cancer, myxoid liposarcoma, bone sarcoma, …).

It has also been validated as the method of choice for cancer screening in patients with a predisposition to cancer and for staging cancers observed during pregnancy.

The current and future challenges for WB-MRI are its availability facing this number of indications, and its acceptance by patients, radiologists and health authorities.

Guidelines have been developed to optimize image acquisition and reading, assessment of lesion response to treatment, and to adapt examination designs to specific cancers.

The implementation of 3D acquisition, Dixon method, and deep learning-based image optimization further improve the diagnostic performance of the technique and reduce examination durations.

Whole-body MRI screening is feasible in less than 30 min.

This article reviews validated indications, recent developments, growing acceptance, and future perspectives of whole-body MRI.