Whole-body MRI: a powerful alternative to bone scan for bone marrow staging without radiation and gadolinium enhancer

Purpose Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) is a radiation-free alternative to the 99mTc-HDP bone scan (BS) for the detection of bone metastasis. The major drawback is the long examination time and application of gadolinium enhancer. The aim of this study is to analyze (i) the performance of WB-MRI versus the BS and (ii) the diagnostic benefit of gadolinium (WB-MRI + Gd) compared to a non-enhanced protocol (NE WB-MRI).