MRI of the Brain, Head, Neck and Spine

With the growing number of MR installations, clinicians and radiologist are being confronted more and more with visual information they do not feel as confident with as with the more 'mono-form' infor- mation of conventional radiographs, CT and US. The freedom of parameter choice ofthe MR operator allows the same object to be depicted in various ways and the contrast in the images to be changed and inverted at will. For those not experienced in interpreting MR images, this may cause confusion and uncertainty about their diagnostic content. This will sometimes lead to an unnecessary retreat to other diagnostic modalities. The purpose of this book is to help close the gap between MR operators and readers and clinicians. A variety of cases is presented, together with the MRI considerations. In nearly all these cases, confirma- tion of diagnosis was obtained by histological examination. Quite deliberately, this book only includes the occasional CT scan or angiography for comparison, to avoid the temptation of falling back on other modalities and of escaping from the often more difficult to interpret, but in the end more rewarding MR images. All the MR images in this book were made with a 'first-generation', unsophisticated Teslacon I, 0.6 T, superconducting magnet system. Hopefully, they will reflect the quality of the machine. Some people will agree with me that it is sad that investments in expensive health care systems are subject to the whims of those who are mainly interested in satisfying their stockholders.