The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has released a paper on the most recent developments in MRI and PET.
The report describes how the modalities can be used to detect bone metastases at an early stage and monitor response to treatment.
It also outlines the strengths and weaknesses of PET and MRI, as well as their abilities for specific indications and recommendations for choosing the most appropriate imaging techniques.
Lead author Dr. Frederic Lecouvet of the Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc in Brussels said if metastases occur in soft tissues, there is validated criteria, such as Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), that evaluate response to treatment.
A host of problems, however, limits the ability to measure the response to treatment of metastases found in bone. The obstacles range from the characteristics of bone metastatic disease and the structure of bone itself, to the sensitivity, specificity, and resolution of imaging methods available now.
