New body scans help detect spread of myeloma

A new type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may help to detect whether cancer cells have spread to the bones of patients with myeloma, avoiding the need for painful and repeated bone marrow biopsies, a small study has found.

The scan could also help doctors decide whether patients are responding to treatment, say the researchers, from London’s Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Myeloma is currently diagnosed and staged with radiography and regular MRI scans, but gauging the response of the disease to treatment often involves bone biopsies. However, even biopsies …