Age-Related Pathological Changes of the Bone Marrow and Immune System

This chapter describes the some common disorders of the bone marrow and immune systems with an emphasis on the elderly. Advancing age comes bundled with increased cancer incidence and mortality. The hematopoietic disorders of the elderly which can be diagnosed by radiologic studies include anemia, amyloidosis, myelofibrosis, and malignancies such as multiple myeloma, plasmacytoma, leukemia, and lymphoma. In this chapter, we discuss various imaging characteristics of hematological disorders and malignancies in the geriatric population. Imaging modalities include radiography, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), PET-CT, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).