In defining the linear extent of a malignant tumor in a long bone,
radiographs, computerized tomography, and scintigraphy are routinely
employed, especially when non-ablative surgery is being considered. The
drawbacks of these modalities in defining the true intracompartmental
extent of disease within a bone can largely be overcome with the use of
magnetic resonance imaging. We did a prospective analysis of magnetic
resonance imaging in sixteen consecutive patients with a primary malignant
tumor of a long bone, and it showed that this modality has clinical promise
of being more precise than the other modalities in defining the true
proximal and distal extent of a tumor in a long bone. Coronal images permit
easier planning of surgical techniques for salvage of a limb using an
allograft than do a multiplicity of transverse images.