MRI of bone tumors: advances in diagnosis and treatment assessment

MRI is a unique imaging technique that allows direct visualization of bone marrow with high spatial resolution and is considered the best tool for local staging of bone tumors. Owing to its high natural contrast resolution, it can depict specific tissue components useful for tumor characterization. Moreover, there is great interest in MRI capability to assess post-chemotherapy changes in order to identify unresponsive tumors early in the course of therapy. To increase the accuracy in the assessment of tumor response to treatment, new and more sophisticated approaches using fast and ultrafast MRI are under evaluation. This article presents an overview of the state-of-the-art of MRI in staging bone lesions, discusses the role that this technique plays in tumor characterization and provides a quick look at future technological advancements.