Keywords:
Diagnostic procedure, MR, Musculoskeletal soft tissue, Musculoskeletal bone, Bones, Inflammation
Authors:
V. A. BRATU, K. Hostettler, A. Fischmann, M. Tamm, U. STUDLER; Basel/CH
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2013/C-2656
Methods and Materials
Twenty-four consecutive patients with histologically confirmed sarcoidosis were prospectively enrolled in this study.
Patients were recruited regardless of specific treatment and apparent extrapulmonary involvement.
A pregnancy test was performed in all women of childbearing age.
In order to estimate the extrapulmonary activity of sarcoidosis the extrapulmonary physician organ severity tool (ePOST) was employed.
Full blood count and a metabolic laboratory panel including creatine kinase,
SGOT,
SGPT,
bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase were performed.
Additionally,
serum levels of ACE and sIL-2R as well as calcium in 24-hour urine were measured.
A complete set of pulmonary function tests (PFT) was completed within 2 weeks of the wbMRI.
PFTs were performed by using spirometry,
body plethysmography and the carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (Jaeger,
Würzburg,
Germany).
All patients underwent wbMRI at 1.5 T including coronal and sagittal T1w TSE and STIR sequences.
Edema-like and cystic lesions of the axial skeleton,
pelvis and lower limbs were recorded.
In muscles myopathic changes (fatty infiltration or edema-like) or nodular lesions were assessed.
A recently published study could not find MRI morphological descriptors highly specific for sarcoidosis.
Hence for each finding a 3-point ordinal assessment of confidence regarding its sarcoidal aetiology was employed as shown in Fig.
1: improbable (level 0),
possible (level 1) and probable (level 2).