[Whole-body tumor staging: MRI or FDG-PET/CT?].

Technical innovations such as the availability of movable patient platforms and the introduction of 32-channel systems have made whole-body MRI for tumor staging feasible. In addition, the development of dual-modality PET/CT systems offers the opportunity to perform anatometabolic tumor staging with whole-body coverage in a single session. Based on an increase in patient survival when applying a stage-adapted therapy in different malignant diseases the relevant question relates to the accuracies of whole-body MRI and whole-body PET/CT for TNM staging. This review article addresses whole-body tumor staging with MRI and FDG-PET/CT with special emphasis on diagnostic accuracies for staging different malignant diseases.