Advances in magnetic resonance imaging machines have quickly grown in recent years, now allowing researchers to scan patients' whole bodies rather than only scanning specific parts like their head or foot, Medical News Today reported. This recent development provides doctors with a more in-depth look at the structure of patients' bodies and bones, which may help to bypass bone marrow biopsies.

Patients who may be diagnosed with a type of cancer called myeloma, which affects blood marrow blood cells, may need to have biopsies done to determine how much of the cancer has spread. Bone barrow biopsies are often a painful process for patients as well as time-consuming if the first bone marrow sample does not yield a definitive analysis. However, The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK have created a new scanning technique to access and document the spread of myeloma through MRI machines that use permanent magnets.

It is crucial for health care professionals to track how well patients respond to treatment, according to Julia Frater, senior cancer information nurse at Cancer UK.

"This research demonstrates how an advanced imaging technique could provide a whole-skeleton 'snapshot' to track the response of tumors in individual bones," Frater said. "Finding ways to make treatments gentler and improve the experience for patients is an important focus for Cancer Research UK and the research we fund."

In the study published in the journal Radiology, 86 percent of patient cases resulted in doctors accurately identifying whether patients had responded to the treatment for myeloma. For 80 percent of the cases, doctors were able to determine which patients may have been unresponsive to treatment.

Dr. Faith Davies of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust said researchers are expected to test the whole body scanning technology on more patients with the ultimate goal of expanding the lifespan of myeloma patients.

MRI scanning technology improves breast cancer screenings
In a separate study, engineers and radiologists at Dartmouth University found a way to improve scanning for breast cancer using MRI machines with high powered magnets. The study, which is published in the February issue of the journal Academic Radiology, showed a technique that incorporates MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology provides a clearer image of patients who may have had a difficult time with breast screening due to dense tissue.

The benefits of the combined technology include quicker set up time as well as higher quality images, according to Michael Mastanduno, author of the study. In addition, the Dartmouth MRI/NIRS allows doctors to more easily see areas that are just outside of the breast area, such as close to the armpit, to better check for abnormalities.

"This work is a huge improvement on previous designs of MRI/NIRS systems," said Mastanduno. "All breast sizes and lesion locations can now be effectively imaged. Though there is more work to be done, this technology is promising for improving MRI's ability to distinguish cancer from benign abnormalities."

Dartmouth researchers are planning future tests using MRI/NIRS for women with lesions.