Whole-body MRI in patients with lymphoma: collateral findings

Purpose: To assess the incidence of collateral findings detected on whole-body magnetic resonance (WB-MRI) scans performed on patients with lymphoma. Materials and methods: 114 patients (65 male; median age 45.2 years, range 15–86) with histologically confirmed lymphoma (47 Hodgkin, 67 Non-Hodgkin) underwent WB-MRI. The collateral findings were classified into three classes, according to their clinical significance, as follows: not or low significant (class 1), moderately or potentially significant (class 2), and significant (class 3). A Chi-square (χ2) test was performed to assess the statistical significance of differences in the incidence of collateral findings based on age (≤50 and >50 years old), gender and histology (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma). Results: Ninety-one of 114 patients (79.8 %) had one or more incidental findings on WB-MRI. Collateral findings were more frequent in class 1 (43 %); abnormalities found in 35 patients (30.7 %) were considered potentially significant, whereas seven patients (6.1 %) demonstrated significant collateral findings requiring immediate treatment or further diagnostic evaluation. Collateral findings were more frequent in subjects over 50 years old compared to those of 50 years old or younger; differences were statistical significant (χ2 = 8.42, p < 0.05). There were not statistically significant differences related to gender (χ2 = 0.17, p > 0.05) and histology (χ2 = 0.24, p > 0.05). Conclusion: WB-MRI is an attractive procedure that allows to detect incidental abnormalities of organs not involved by disease offering the opportunity to obtain an early diagnosis of asymptomatic life-threatening diseases.