Bone marrow after autologous blood stem cell transplantation and total body irradiation: magnetic resonance and chemical shift imaging.

Magnetic resonance studies of the lumbar, pelvic, and femoral bone marrow were performed in 10 patients after autologous blood stem cell transplantation, including total body irradiation and myeloablative chemotherapy. The posttreatment interval varied between 2 and 6 yr. The appearance on T1-weighted images and the quantitative data obtained from chemical shift imaging (relative fat signal) were compared to 10 age-matched healthy volunteers. The classification of the T1-weighted images yielded no significant differences between the two groups. Chemical shift imaging by determination of the relative fat signal was able to detect a significant fatty replacement of the patients' lumbar (p < .002) and pelvic marrow (p < .01), showing the clinically inapparent decreased cellularity of the bone marrow. This difference did not change within the interval of 2-6 yr after transplantation.