An analysis of clinical values of MRI, CT and X-ray in differentiating benign and malignant bone metastases.

Objective: To investigate the clinical values of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and X-ray in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant bone metastases.

Methods: A total of 80 patients with bone metastases admitted to our hospital were selected as the study subjects. X-ray, CT and MRI examinations were performed, respectively. The pathological examination results were taken as the gold standard to analyze the lesion sites of metastatic tumors in 80 subjects. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of X-ray, CT and MRI examinations were calculated and compared.

Results: Among the 80 patients, 71 cases were diagnosed as malignant bone metastases and 9 cases as benign lesions according to pathological examination. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of X-ray, CT and MRI examinations were 63.38%, 33.33% and 60.00%, 84.51%, 66.67% and 82.50%, and 90.14%, 77.78% and 88.75%, respectively. MRI was superior to X-ray in the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of differential diagnosis of benign and malignant bone metastases ( < 0.05). MRI was superior to CT, but there was no significant difference between the two groups ( < 0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT + MRI were significantly higher than those of any single detection method ( < 0.05).

Conclusion: MRI, CT and X-ray exhibit a good value in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant bone metastases. Overall, MRI is superior to CT and X-ray in the screening effects, and the combined detection methods are more satisfactory. It is recommended that CT should be used for primary screening, and CT + MRI should be implemented for a enhanced diagnosis.