Head and neck: initial clinical experience with fast spin-echo MR imaging.

Fast spin-echo (FSE) is a new magnetic resonance (MR) imaging pulse sequence that employs echo trains of 180 degrees radio-frequency pulses to generate multiple refocused echoes during a single repetition-time interval. Phase encoding is reordered with the lowest spatial frequency views obtained in the echoes nearest the desired effective echo time. These techniques were used to examine 30 patients with pathologic conditions of the head and neck.

Extracranial head and neck: PET imaging with 2-[F-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose and MR imaging correlation.

The aim of this study was to define and quantitate the normal anatomy of the extracranial head and neck with 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). This information was used to study 12 patients with primary squamous cell carcinomas. In all cases, the lymphoid tissue of the Waldeyer ring and the palatine and lingual tonsils could be differentiated from the airway, striated muscle, osseous structures, and salivary glands.

Computed tomography versus standard radiography in the assessment of fractures of the mandible.

Twenty-nine fractures of the mandible were studied by standard radiographs and axial computed tomographic scans (hard copy). Independent reviewers analyzed each study in a blinded, non-paired fashion. When radiographic diagnostic sensitivities were compared on the basis of known surgical findings, the plain films were found to have a higher diagnostic sensitivity (89%) than the hard copy computed tomograms (64%).