Magnetic resonance imaging of the bone marrow in 3 patients with aplastic anemia

Bone marrow appearances in aplastic anemia are characterized by the abundance of fatty marrow that replaces normal functional marrow. The signal intensity of aplastic bone marrow in sagittal T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of the spine is bright, resembling that of subcutaneous fat and, in most cases, is not difficult to differentiate from normal age-related marrow changes. Three patients with aplastic anemia are described, and the correlation of magnetic resonance imaging of the spine with bone marrow trephine biopsy findings in these patients is portrayed. Magnetic resonance imaging is an accessible, non-invasive technique that allows sampling of a larger volume of bone marrow tissue and is especially useful in the detection of fatty marrow replacement of the normal functional marrow in aplastic anemia.