Sclerotic bone lesions as a potential imaging biomarker for the diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis complex

Tuberous-sclerosis-complex (TSC) is associated with a high lifetime risk of severe complications. Clinical manifestations are largely variable and diagnosis is often missed. Sclerotic-bone-lesions (SBL) could represent a potential imaging biomarker for the diagnosis of TSC. In this study, computed tomography (CT) data sets of 49 TSC patients (31 females) were included and compared to an age/sex matched control group. Imaging features of SBLs included frequency, size and location pattern. Sensitivities, specificities and cutoff values for the diagnosis of TSC were established for the skull, thorax, and abdomen/pelvis. In TSC patients, 3439 SBLs were detected, including 665 skull SBLs, 1426 thoracal SBLs and 1348 abdominal/pelvic SBLs. In the matched control-collective, 157 SBLs could be found. The frequency of SBLs enabled a reliable differentiation between TSC patients and the control collective with the following sensitivities and specificities. Skull: ≥5 SBLs, 0.783, 1; thorax: ≥4 SBLs, 0.967, 0.967; abdomen/pelvis: ≥5 SBLs: 0.938, 0.906. SBL size was significantly larger compared to controls (p < 0.05). Based on the frequency, size and location pattern of SBLs TSC can be suspected. SBLs may serve as a potential imaging biomarker in the workup of TSC patients.