Methods: MRT

MRI has become the imaging method of choice in special regions of the head and neck (e.g. nasopharynx, oropharynx, oral cavity, floor of the mouth). S uperconducting MR-equipment with field strengths of 1.0-1.5 T are appropria te for the evaluation of the head and neck region. Signal acquisition is op timal with circular polarized head coils or with specially designed surface coils; the body coil is insufficient. When imaging tumors we need T1 contrast, T2 contrast and contrast medium in formation (enhancement information). For the T1 contrast T1-spin-echo is an d remains the best sequence. For T2-contast T2, turbo-spin-echo with fat su ppression has replaced the T2 spin-echo sequences because it is faster and shows good contrast between tumor and saturated fat tissue. Fat saturated T 1 turbo-spin-echo enables best tissue contrast after Gd-DTPA application. ( C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.