Imaging studies are essential for both diagnosis and initial staging of multiple myeloma, as well as for differentiation from other monoclonal plasma cell diseases. Apart from conventional radiography, a variety of newer imaging modalities including whole-body low-dose-CT, whole-body MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT may be used for detection of osseous and extraosseous myeloma manifestations. Despite of known limitations such as limited sensitivity and specificity and the inability to detect extraosseous lesions, conventional radiography still remains the gold standard for staging newly diagnosed myeloma, partly due to its wide availability and low costs. Whole-body low-dose CT is increasingly used due to its higher sensitivity for the detection of osseous lesions and its ability to diagnose extraosseous lesions, and is replacing conventional radiography at selected centres. The highest sensitivity for both detection of bone marrow disease and extraosseous lesions can be achieved with whole-body MRI or 18F-FDG PET/CT. Diffuse bone marrow infiltration may be visualized by whole-body MRI with high sensitivity. Whole-body MRI is at least recommended in all patients with normal conventional radiography and in all patients with an apparently solitary plasmacytoma of bone. To obtain the most precise readings, optimized examination protocols and dedicated radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians familiar with the complex and variable morphologies of myeloma lesions are required.
