Whole-body MRI compared with standard pathways for staging metastatic disease in lung and colorectal cancer: the Streamline diagnostic accuracy studies.

BACKGROUND

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging is advocated as an alternative to standard pathways for staging cancer.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives were to compare diagnostic accuracy, efficiency, patient acceptability, observer variability and cost-effectiveness of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging and standard pathways in staging newly diagnosed non-small-cell lung cancer (Streamline L) and colorectal cancer (Streamline C).

DESIGN

The design was a prospective multicentre cohort study.

SETTING

The setting was 16 NHS hospitals.

PARTICIPANTS

Consecutive patients aged ≥ 18 years with histologically proven or suspected colorectal (Streamline C) or non-small-cell lung cancer (Streamline L).

INTERVENTIONS

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging. Standard staging investigations (e.g. computed tomography and positron emission tomography-computed tomography).

REFERENCE STANDARD

Consensus panel decision using 12-month follow-up data.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome was per-patient sensitivity difference between whole-body magnetic resonance imaging and standard staging pathways for metastasis. Secondary outcomes included differences in specificity, the nature of the first major treatment decision, time and number of tests to complete staging, patient experience and cost-effectiveness.

RESULTS

Streamline C - 299 participants were included. Per-patient sensitivity for metastatic disease was 67% (95% confidence interval 56% to 78%) and 63% (95% confidence interval 51% to 74%) for whole-body magnetic resonance imaging and standard pathways, respectively, a difference in sensitivity of 4% (95% confidence interval -5% to 13%;

LIMITATIONS

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging was interpreted by practitioners blinded to other clinical data, which may not fully reflect how it is used in clinical practice.

CONCLUSIONS

In colorectal and non-small-cell lung cancer, the whole-body magnetic resonance imaging staging pathway has similar accuracy to standard staging pathways, is generally preferred by patients, improves staging efficiency and has lower staging costs. Future work should address the utility of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging for treatment response assessment.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN43958015 and ISRCTN50436483.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in

Colorectal and lung cancer are the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the UK. Optimal treatment depends on accurately defining (or ‘staging’) the extent of disease, particularly if it has spread to other parts of the body such as the liver. Current staging pathways are complex and rely on a variety of tests that use X-rays, such as computed tomography and positron emission tomography–computed tomography scans. Patients often undergo multiple tests before starting treatment. Alternatively, it is possible to scan the whole body using magnetic resonance imaging without X-rays, and this may be more accurate and reduce the time and number of tests needed before treatment can start. We compared the ability to detect cancer spread, efficiency, patient experience and cost-effectiveness of staging based on whole-body magnetic resonance imaging with the standard NHS pathways in participants newly diagnosed with either lung (187 participants) or colorectal (299 participants) cancer. We found that the whole-body magnetic resonance imaging pathway was as accurate as standard staging pathways and resulted in very similar treatment decisions made by the clinical teams. The whole-body magnetic resonance imaging pathway detected 67% and 50% of participants with cancer spread in colorectal and lung cancer, respectively, compared with 63% and 54%, respectively, for standard staging. However, staging was quicker using whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (by 5 days for colorectal cancer and 6 days for lung cancer) and needed on average one less test to stage colorectal cancer. The whole-body magnetic resonance imaging pathway was also cheaper (costing on average £216 and £317 for colorectal and lung cancer, respectively, compared with £285 and £620, respectively, for standard pathways). Participants generally found whole-body magnetic resonance imaging more burdensome than standard imaging but most preferred the whole-body magnetic resonance imaging pathway if it reduced the time to staging and/or the number of tests. Agreement between different radiology doctors interpreting the same whole-body magnetic resonance imaging scan was moderate for colon cancer and low for lung cancer, emphasising the need for training.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Stuart A Taylor reports personal fees from Robarts Clinical Trials Inc. (London, ON, Canada) outside the submitted work. Andrea Rockall reports personal fees from Guerbet (Paris, France) outside the submitted work. Vicky Goh and Anwar Padhani report grants from Siemens AG (Erlangen, Germany) outside the submitted work. Steve Halligan reports non-financial support from iCad Inc. (Nashua, NH, USA) outside the submitted work and was a member of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) commissioning board (2008–14). Stephen Morris declares past membership of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) HTA Clinical Evaluation and Trials Board (2007–9), HTA Commissioning Board (2009–13), Public Health Research Board (2011–17), Health Services and Delivery Research (HSDR) Commissioning Board (2014–16) and HSDR Board (2014–18), and current membership of the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research expert subpanel (2015–present) and HSDR Evidence Synthesis Sub Board (2016–present).