[Diagnosis of thyroid diseases using imaging procedures with reference to nuclear magnetic resonance tomography]

Results of MR imaging performed in 74 patients with diseases of the thyroid gland and in normal persons are compared with nuclear medicine (99mTc 04 and 131J scans) and sonography (5 and 7.5 MHz transducers, linear scans) results. The MR-signal intensity of hot nodules--Plummers' disease--is not specific. Therefore scintigraphy combined with sonography remain the methods of choice for the diagnosis of hyperfunctioning nodules. Morphologic alterations within the thyroid gland are detected by MRT as well as by ultrasound. But when lesions are not limited to the thyroid bed MRT will become the imaging examination of choice. Therefore MRT can be useful for scanning retrotracheal and superior mediastinal extent of thyroid lesions. Also clinically inapparent metastases to the cervical and mediastinal nodes may be detected.