Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging in autologous bone marrow transplantation for Hodgkin's disease

Fifteen consecutive patients with refractory or relapsed Hodgkin's disease (HD) referred for autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) underwent quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) studies of the lumbar vertebral bone marrow. Markedly elevated lumbar vertebral marrow T1 values suggestive of bone marrow involvement with HD were seen in four patients, two of whom had no evidence of HD on bilateral iliac crest bone marrow biopsy. Serial studies showed normalisation of T1 values in the post-transplant period. T1 relaxation rate correlated positively with time to engraftment following ABMT and a significant correlation (r = 0.73, 0.02 greater than P greater than 0.01) between T2 relaxation rate and granulocyte and macrophage colony forming units (CFU-GM) of processed bone marrow was seen. This preliminary study illustrates the potential role of quantitative MRI both in the pre-transplant assessment of patients considered for ABMT and in the post-transplant evaluation of tumour response when marrow involvement with HD is present.