Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can effectively detect myelofibrosis (MF) in a mouse model, according to research published in the journal Blood Cancer.
In fact, researchers found that MRI could detect early and late stages of primary MF.
The researchers believe this discovery could potentially change the way MF is diagnosed, as MRI might be used to help physicians decide if or where to biopsy.
Katya Ravid, PhD, of Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, and her colleagues conducted this research, aiming to determine whether T2-weighted MRI could detect bone marrow fibrosis in a mouse model of primary MF.
The team looked specifically at how effectively MRI could detect MF during the pre-fibrotic stage (when mice were less than 16 weeks old), when the mice had early MF (16 to 36 weeks old), and once the mice had overt MF (older than 36 weeks).
The researchers found that MRI could detect MF at the pre-fibrotic stage as well as detecting progressive MF.
The team said they observed a clear, bright signal that allowed them to differentiate mice with MF from healthy control mice.
The researchers proposed that the abundance of large megakaryocytes contributed to the bright signal they observed, since, in T2-weighted MR images, increased water/proton content, as in increased cellularity, yields high MR-signal intensity.
The team said this study provides proof of concept that T2-weighted MRI can detect primary MF in the early and late stages.
