[NMR evaluation of neoplastic invasion of the pulmonary artery]

Bronchial tumors that invade the mediastinum are not necessarily inoperable. Whether surgery is possible depends, among other things, on the extent of pulmonary artery invasion. The authors have studied the value of cardiac-gated MRI and compared it with CT and venous DSA for staging tumor invasion. CT demonstrated the areas of contact between tumor and mediastinum. The MRI planes were transverse and also in the main axis of the pulmonary arteries. Twenty-one patients were studied and in 16 the findings could be checked during surgery. In all cases the findings on MRI were confirmed. In eight patients MRI provided more information than CT and DSA combined and thereby showed its superiority for evaluating arterial invasion.