RATIONALE: New imaging procedures, such as whole-body MRI, may improve the ability to detect metastatic cancer and determine the extent of disease.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying whole-body MRI to see how well it works compared to standard imaging procedures in detecting distant metastases in patients with solid tumors or lymphoma.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Compare non-inferior diagnostic performance of whole-body MRI (i.e., combination of turbo short-tau inversion-recovery (STIR) and out-of-phase imaging) vs conventional imaging (i.e., the combination of chest CT scan, scintigraphy [bone, gallium, meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), or optional fludeoxyglucose F 18 positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)] and abdominal/pelvic CT scan/MRI as indicated) for detecting distant metastases for use in staging common tumors in pediatric patients.

Secondary

• Determine the incremental benefit of adding out-of-phase T1-weighted gradient-recalled echo imaging to turbo STIR for detecting distant disease in these patients.
• Determine, preliminarily, the relative accuracies of FDG-PET, whole-body MRI, and a combination of FDG-PET and whole-body MRI in detecting stage IV disease in these patients.
• Determine the effects of multiple factors, including cancer type, site of primary tumor, and patient age, on diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI in these patients.
• Determine the interobserver variability associated with interpreting whole-body MRI exams for detecting distant metastases in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients undergo conventional MRI, CT scan, and/or scintigraphy (e.g., bone, meta-iodobenzylguanidine [MIBG], or gallium) and experimental whole-body MRI sequences. Patients may optionally undergo fludeoxyglucose F18 positron emission tomography (FDG-PET).

Patients with a lesion (or lesions) detected on whole-body MRI or FDG-PET at initial staging that are not confirmed by biopsy or other conventional imaging studies at staging repeat standard imaging at 3- to 6-month follow-up.

Patients with an abnormality that is considered highly suspicious for a metastasis or when biopsy proof of that metastasis is obtained receive treatment at the discretion of the treating physician.

Patients are followed annually for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 226 patients (45 with neuroblastoma, 54 with rhabdomyosarcoma, 27 with other sarcoma, and 100 with lymphoma) will be accrued for this study within 1 year.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Confirmed diagnosis OR newly diagnosed mass strongly suspected to represent 1 of the following:

  • Rhabdomyosarcoma
  • Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Hodgkin's lymphoma
  • Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

• All imaging examinations (e.g., CT scan, MRI, or scintigraphy) must be performed within 14 days of each other and within 2 months of any diagnostic or operative procedure

  • Whole body MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning (if PET scan is being done) must be done before treatment
  • Prior CT scan, conventional MRI, bone scintigraphy, gallium scintigraphy, or meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy performed at outside institutions allowed provided the same technical standards specified in this study were practiced
  • Bone scintigraphy required for patients with neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or other sarcomas
  • Gallium scintigraphy not required in lymphoma patients if PET scan is performed

• No CNS primary tumor

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 21 and under

Performance status

• Not specified

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Not specified

Hepatic

• Not specified

Renal

• Not specified

Cardiovascular

• No active cardiac pacemakers

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing

• No prior malignancy

• No uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (for patients undergoing optional PET)

  • Patients with controlled diabetes mellitus must have a fasting blood glucose no greater than 200 mg/dL

• No contraindications to MRI or CT scan (e.g., intracranial vascular clips)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• Not specified

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• Not specified

Surgery

• Prior biopsy or surgery allowed provided no more than 2 months has passed since the procedure