TITLE:
Whole-Body 64-Slice Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) Identifies High-Risk Myeloma
AUTHORS:
Giuseppe Mele, Grazia D’Agostino, Giacomo Loseto, Maria Rosaria Coppi, Angela Melpignano, Grazia Angone, Giovanni Quarta
KEYWORDS:
Asymptomatic Myeloma; MDCT; MRI; Conventional Radiography
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.3 No.7,
December
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: Background: In Multiple Myeloma (MM) the individuation
of bone lesions at baseline is mandatory because the detection of
cortical damage reflects prognostic implications. Conventional Radiography (CR)
shows osteolytic bone lesions only when the cortical bone damage is more than
30%. Whole-body 64-slice multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) has recently
been employed for detecting early osteolytic disease. Patients and Methods: Twenty-height patients with Asymptomatic MM according to IMWG criteria underwent a
64 MDCT. Results: In our experience MDCT revealed osteolysis
in 14/28 patients with normal skeletal survey and in 6 patients with normal
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Patients with radiological evidence of bone
disease on MDCT were at high risk of progression with a median time to
progression of 5 months (range 1 - 26 months) in comparison with patients without
radiological evidence of bone disease who, conversely, showed a median time to progression
of 20 months (range 8 - 40 months) (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: MDCT is able to identify MM patients with a high risk of progression, who might
benefit from early therapy.