Bone marrow imaging in children

MR imaging is a sensitive technique fur noninvasively evaluating bone marrow composition. During skeletal maturation, hematopoietic marrow is converted to fatty marrow. Knowledge of the normal conversion patterns is important if marrow pathology is to be detected. Alterations in bone marrow signal occur in a variety of disorders, including marrow hyperplasia, tumor infiltration, myeloid depletion, myelofibrosis, edema and ischemia. Qualitative analysis of signal intensity is often non-specific and the MR imaging findings need to be correlated with clinical history. Quantitative techniques have the potential to increase the specificity of MR imaging in the diagnosis of hematologic diseases in children.