Association between magnetic resonance imaging patterns and baseline disease features in multiple myeloma: analyzing surrogates of tumour mass and biology.

• Diffuse MRI correlates with adverse cytogenetics, lowered haemoglobin and high tumour burden. • Higher numbers of MRI focal lesions correlate with increasing degree of bone destruction. • Focal lesions exceeding the cortical bone borderline significantly influence survival. • Moderate/severe diffuse infiltration and more than 23 focal lesions adversely affect survival.