Detection of rib metastases in patients with lung cancer: a comparative study of MRI, CT and bone scintigraphy.

ABSTRACT

We retrospectively investigated the imaging findings of bone scintigraphy, chest CT and chest MRI in 55 cases of lung cancer. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the detection of rib metastases were compared between imaging modalities on both a per-lesion and a per-patient basis. On a per-lesion basis, MRI sensitivity and accuracy were significantly higher than that of bone scintigraphy and CT (P<0.05). The sensitivities, specificities, and accuracy levels between CT and bone scintigraphy did not differ on either a per-lesion or per-patient basis (P>0.05). MRI appears to be superior for the detection of ribs metastases in lung cancer.