Giuliano Mariani MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Marzio Perri, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Simona Ortori MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Paola Erba, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Fiammetta Pesella MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Fiorina Giona MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and 99mTc-Sestamibi Scintigraphy (MIBI) are used to assess bone marrow infiltration in patients with Gaucher disease(GD), but a means of comparing these semiquantitative assessments does not exist. We developed normalized scores for comparing data both intra-method (4 different MR scores) and inter-method (MR vs MIBI).

We evaluated 35 patients with type 1 GD (M/F: 18/17), mean age 36.3±10.9 yr, average duration of disease since onset of symptoms 12.2±11.1 yr. MR images obtained by T1/T2-weighted TSE sequences at 1.5 Tesla were analyzed to derive the bone marrow burden (BMB, score 0–16), the vertebra-to-disk ratio (VDR), the Terk score (0–3) and the Spanish-MR score (S-MR, 0–24). MIBI scintigraphy was scored between 0–8. Each MR and MIBI score was normalized into 4 new categories: 0=normal, 1=mild, 2=intermediate, 3=severe involvement. Non-parametric statistics with Bonferroni’s correction was employed for correlations among the various scores, both as original data and as normalized scores.

The highest correlation was found between BMB and S-MR (P<0.001), both as original and as normalized scores (R=0.94 and R=0.81), followed by S-MR vs Terk (R=0.92 and R=0.90, P<0.0001), BMB vs Terk (R=0.86 and R=0.81, P<0.0001), MIBI vs VDR (R=-0.72 and R=0.70, P<0.0001), MIBI vs BMB (R=0.69, P<0.0001; R=0.57, P=0.0005), BMB vs VDR (R=-0.66 and R=0.63, P<0.0001), MIBI vs S-MR (R=0.58, P=0.0005; R=0.49, P=0.004), MIBI vs Terk (R=0.56, P=0.0005; R=0.48, P=0.0.004), and S-MR vs VDR (R=-0.48, P=0.004; R=0.41, P=0.014). Crombach’s alpha analysis confirmed excellent overall concordance among both original and normalized scores.

The described method of normalization results in no significant loss of statistical information and allows for comparison of scores obtained at centers that use different imaging modalities.

We provide a simple means of comparing the degree of bone marrow infiltration in patients with GD assessed by different modalities, which facilitates inter-group comparison and monitoring of individual patients.

Mariani, G, Perri, M, Ortori, S, Erba, P, Pesella, F, Giona, F, Assessment of Bone Marrow Infiltration in Patients with Gaucher Disease by Normalized Magnetic Resonance and ^99mTc-Sestamibi Scintigraphy.  Radiological Society of North America 2007 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2007 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2007/5004926.html