Automated spine survey iterative scan technique.

Institutional review board approval, with waived consent, was obtained to develop a spine-labeling algorithm with retrospectively obtained deidentified HIPAA-compliant data. An automated magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique to rapidly survey the entire spine and provide definitive numbering of disks and vertebrae was compared with neuroradiologist assignments in 50 cases. Contiguous two-station sagittal fast gradient-recalled-echo sequences with 35-cm fields of view (FOVs) were preprogrammed for full cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine coverage (combined 70-cm FOV, seven sections, 15 mm left of to 15 mm right of midline, 4-mm section thickness, 1-mm intersection gap, 512 x 352 matrix, 58/2.