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Musculoskeletal Applications of DWI

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Diffusion MRI Outside the Brain

Abstract

DWI of the musculoskeletal system shows different diffusion characteristics in various normal tissues and musculoskeletal pathologies. Therefore, DWI provides complementary information to conventional morphological sequences of MRI in the evaluation of bone and soft tissue. The utility of DW imaging has been described for various musculoskeletal applications such as evaluation of bone marrow disorders, differentiation of benign and malignant bone marrow edema, characterization of bone and soft tissue tumors, infection, degenerative spondyloarthropathy, inflammatory arthropathy, and therapeutic monitorization. Whole-body approaches using DWIBS has demonstrated to be a very efficient tool in the detection of bone metastasis. Several reports have demonstrated that DWI provides excellent distinction between pathologic and benign vertebral fractures. Therapeutic monitorization of bone marrow alterations is challenging due to complicated patterns of signal intensity variation that can be seen with different bone marrow stage. Differentiation of benign from malignant soft tissue tumors and bone infection from malignancy are favored by the use of DWI. Besides, DWI may have a promising role in the evalaution of cartilage, intervertebral disc or bone necrosis, and musculoskeletal involvement of both oncological and nononcological disease. All these applications of DWI offer great potential to enhance the diagnostic utility of MRI in musculoskeletal radiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona-Hospital Sta. Caterina, University of Girona, Girona, Spain

    Joan C. Vilanova

  2. Department of Radiology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Sandra Baleato

  3. Department of Radiology, Hospital Universitari Dr. J. Trueta, Girona, Spain

    Elda Balliu

Authors
  1. Joan C. Vilanova
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  2. Sandra Baleato
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  3. Elda Balliu
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Correspondence to Joan C. Vilanova .

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Vilanova, J.C., Baleato, S., Balliu, E. (2012). Musculoskeletal Applications of DWI. In: Diffusion MRI Outside the Brain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21052-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21052-5_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-21051-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-21052-5

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