Superscan in diffusion-weighted imaging with background body suppression magnetic resonance imaging

摘要

A 78-year-old woman attended the emergency department of a hospital with right femoral pain that had persisted for 2 weeks. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed suspected bone tumours, and the patient was referred to our hospital. Her pain was aggravated whenever she stood or walked and had spread throughout her body 4 weeks after onset. Because metastatic bone tumours were suspected, we performed whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging with background body suppression (DWIBS) MRI, which showed a diffused, high-signal intensity in multiple bones, resembling “superscan.” Superscan is a phenomenon first described in relation to findings of diffuse symmetrical increased uptake of radionucleotides in bone but not kidney and bladder seen on technetium-99m diphosphonate bone scanning, which could point toward metastatic bone disease, metabolic bone disease or widespread primary bone disease1 (Figure 1A).