Can whole-body magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging replace Tc 99m bone scanning and computed tomography for single-step detection of metastases in patients with high-risk prostate cancer?

Background: Technetium Tc 99m bone scintigraphy (BS) and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pelvis and abdomen are universally recommended for detecting prostate cancer (PCa) metastases in cancer of all stages. However, this two-step approach has limited sensitivity and specificity.

Objective: Evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI (WBMRI) as a one-step screening test for PCa metastases.