MR imaging of bone marrow in children.

The magnetic resonance (MR) images of the knees and hips of children with systemic diseases involving bone marrow were correlated with their marrow histology and compared with the images of asymptomatic normal children. In normal children the intensity of the MR signal from the bone marrow of the knees and hips was uniform throughout the metaphyses and diaphyses. In contradistinction the MR signal was uniformly diminished for the hypercellular marrow of patients with sickle cell anemia, was similar to normal for the hypocellular hyperfatty marrow of untreated aplastic anemia, and was nonuniform and patchy for leukemic marrow.