Focal lesions in whole-body MRI in multiple myeloma. Quantification of tumor mass and correlation with disease-related parameters and prognosis

In this study, we evaluated methods of quantification of tumor mass in whole-body MRI (wb-MRI) in multiple myeloma and correlated these with disease-related parameters in serum and bone marrow. We retrospectively evaluated wb-MRIs of 52 patients with focal infiltration pattern and a total of 700 focal lesions (subsequently called lesions). We determined the longest diameter (LD), the segmented volume (SV), and the morphology (spherical or non-spherical). We correlated total number/volume of the lesions with clinical parameters and prognosis and furthermore LD with SV. After that we analyzed the agreement of SV and estimated volume (EV) using the volume formula of a sphere based on LD. Results showed no significant correlations of total number/volume with prognosis or clinical parameters. The latter were situated predominantly in the normal range. Furthermore, 10% of lesions were spherical. SV and LD correlated significantly in single lesions and on patient level. SV was in lesions <6 cm³ systematically larger and in lesions ≥6 cm³ smaller than EV. In 95%, we found in small lesions a deviation of EV versus SV from +0.9 cm³ to -4.6 cm³ and in large lesions from +160 cm³ to -111 cm³ (EV-SV). Quantification of tumor mass in the focal infiltration pattern is performed more accurately by volumetry than LD due to the predominant existence of non-spherical lesions. The patient cohort with clinical parameters predominantly in the normal range is distributed to ISS stage I and partly pretreated, a fact that makes interpretation of absent correlations more difficult. Consider also a variation in activity of lesions and a diffuse infiltration not detectable by MRI. (orig.)