Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging of healthy volunteers: pilot study results from the population-based SHIP study.

Full Abstract

PURPOSE: Approximately 4000 volunteers will undergo whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) within the next 3 years in the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Here we present a pilot study conducted (a) to determine the feasibility of adding a WB-MRI protocol to a large-scale population-based study, (b) to evaluate the reliability of standardized MRI interpretation, and (c) to establish an approach for handling pathological findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The institutional review board approved the study, and oral and written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Two hundred healthy volunteers (99 women, 101 men; mean age 48.3 years) underwent a standardized WB-MRI protocol. The protocol was supplemented by contrast-enhanced cardiac MRI and magnetic resonance (MR) angiography in 61 men (60.4%) and cardiac MRI and MR mammography in 44 women (44.4%). MR scans were evaluated independently by two readers. Abnormalities were discussed by an advisory board and classified according to the need for further clinical work-up. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-four (97.0%) WB-MRI examinations were successfully completed in a mean scan time per subject of 90 minutes. There were 431 pathological findings in 176 (88%) of the participants. Of those 45 (10.4%) required further clinical work-up and 386 (89.6%) characterized as benign lesions did not. The interobserver agreement for the detection of pathological findings was excellent (kappa = 0.799). CONCLUSION: The preliminary results presented here indicate that a large prospective, population-based study using WB-MRI is feasible and that the results of image analysis are reproducible. A variety of positive findings provide valuable information regarding disease prevalence in a general adult population.

Author information

Author/s: Hegenscheid, K (K); Kühn, J P (JP); Völzke, H (H); Biffar, R (R); Hosten, N (N); Puls, R (R);

Affiliation: Institut für Diagnostische Radiologie und Neuroradiologie, Universitätsklinikum der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: RöFo : Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Röntgenstrahlen und der Nuklearmedizin (Rofo), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Aug; vol 181 (issue 8) : pp 748-59

Dates: Created 2009/07/21; Completed 2009/07/30;

PMID: 19598074, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 8/21/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.