Comparison of the utility of whole-body MRI with and without contrast-enhanced Quick 3D and double RF fat suppression techniques, conventional whole-body MRI, PET/CT and conventional examination for assessment of recurrence in NSCLC patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare diagnostic capabilities for assessment of recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients by contrast-enhanced whole-body MRI (CE-WB-MRI) with and without CE-Quick 3D and double RF fat suppression technique (DFS), FDG-PET/CT and conventional radiological examinations.

Methods: A total of 134 pathologically proven and completely resected NSCLC patients (78 males, 56 females; mean age: 72 years) underwent FDG-PET/CT, CE-WB-MRI with and without Quick 3D and DFS at 3T as well as conventional radiological examinations. The probability of recurrence was assessed with a 5-point scoring system on a per-patient basis, and final diagnosis was made by consensus between two readers. The capability for overall recurrence assessment by all the methods was compared by means of ROC analysis and their sensitivity, specificity and accuracy by means of McNemar's test.

Results: Although areas under the curve did not show any significant differences, specificity (100%) and accuracy (95.5%) of CE-WB-MRI with CE-Quick 3D and DFS were significantly higher than those of FDG-PET/CT (specificity: 93.6%, p=0.02; accuracy: 89.6%, p=0.01) and conventional radiological examinations (specificity: 92.7%, p=0.01; accuracy: 91.0%, p=0.03). In addition, specificity of CE-WB-MRI without CE-Quick 3D and DFS (100%) was significantly higher than that of FDG-PET/CT (p=0.02) and conventional radiological examinations (p=0.01).

Conclusions: Specificity and accuracy of CE-WB-MRI with CE-Quick 3D and DFS for assessment of recurrence in NSCLC patients are at least as high as, or higher than those of others.