Whole-body MRI for staging and interim response monitoring in paediatric and adolescent Hodgkin's lymphoma: a comparison with multi-modality reference standard including F-FDG-PET-CT.

Objectives: To prospectively investigate concordance between whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) and a composite reference standard for initial staging and interim response evaluation in paediatric and adolescent Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Methods: Fifty patients (32 male, age range 6-19 years) underwent WB-MRI and standard investigations, including F-FDG-PET-CT at diagnosis and following 2-3 chemotherapy cycles. Two radiologists in consensus interpreted WB-MRI using prespecified definitions of disease positivity.