Purpose: This pictorial essay reviews our experience with MR scans with gadolinium in patients with musculoskeletal tumors and tumor mimickers.
Design: Review of 242 MR scans obtained in the initial evaluation of a possible primary musculoskeletal neoplasm. All scans included a T1-weighted, fat-suppressed sequence following intravenous administration of gadolinium.
Results: MR scans with gadolinium did not contribute to differential diagnosis or patient management in 89% of the patients in this series. However, intravenous gadolinium did assist in guiding the biopsy of bulky lesions and evaluating treated tumor beds for possible recurrence. MR scans with gadolinium were sometimes helpful when the differential diagnosis included synovitis, Morton's neuroma or intramuscular myxoma, and when it was important to differentiate cystic from solid lesions.
Conclusions: Routine use of gadolinium in every initial MR examination of a possible musculoskeletal mass is not warranted. However, there are appropriate selected indications for gadolinium administration as outlined above.