Bone marrow MRI: techniques and accuracy for detecting breast cancer metastases.

We investigated the utility of bone marrow MRI for diagnosing marrow metastases from breast cancer compared with radionuclide bone scan, iliac crest marrow biopsy with histology and antibody immunostaining, and clinical follow-up. We report the results of 43 MRI studies in 32 patients and discuss the evolution and comparison of optimal MRI techniques. MRI appears to be the most accurate diagnostic method, and short TI Inversion Recovery (STIR) the most reliable pulse sequence for this group of patients with breast cancer.