Magnetic resonance imaging of the neck. Part I: Normal anatomy

Magnetic resonance (MR) images of the neck were obtained in 24 patients using a specially designed radio-frequency coil, standard and high-resolution imaging techniques, and a variety of spin echo and inversion recovery pulse sequences. Cervical vascular structures were more easily identified with MR than with CT because of the inherent contrast of flowing blood. The laryngeal skeleton, paralaryngeal tissues, trachea, thyroid, esophagus, and muscles were identified in all cases by MR using morphologic criteria comparable with CT criteria. The spatial resolution of high-resolution MR was slightly inferior to high-resolution CT. However, streak artifacts due to motion and x-ray beam hardening often limited CT, but did not affect MR. Anatomic resolution was best using high-resolution spin echo images obtained with TR = 2.0 seconds and TE = 28 msec because this imaging technique offered excellent contrast between normal tissues and had the highest signal-to-noise ratio. With further improvements in spatial resolution MR is likely to become an important technique for imaging the neck.