[Comparison of T2-weighted turbo spin-echo and ultrafast HASTE sequence in the diagnosis of cervical myelopathies and spinal stenoses and static and kinematic MRT of the spine].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare HASTE-sequence with T2-weighted TSE-sequence in the detection of cervical myelopathy and cervical spinal stenosis in kinematic MRI.

METHODS

24 patients with degenerative disease of the cervical spine were studied. Images were evaluated according to the following criteria: artifacts, delineation of the vertebra, disks and degenerative changes, grade of spinal stenosis (grade 0-3) and evaluation of the cervical spinal cord.

RESULTS

Due to image blurring and artifacts, evaluation and delineation of the cervical spine was possible in all cases in the T2-weighted TSE-sequence, but only in 23 of 24 patients using HASTE-sequence. Differentiation between osteophytes and disks was obtained in most cases (23/24) in the T2-weighted TSE-sequence but none in the HASTE-sequence. Cervical myelopathy was observed in 4 patients in T2-weighted TSE images but only in two cases using HASTE-sequence. Compared to T2-weighted TSE-sequence spinal canal stenosis was underestimated using HASTE-sequence.

CONCLUSION

T2-TSE-sequence is superior to HASTE-sequence in the delineation of anatomical structures of the cervical spine, the grading of cervical spinal stenosis and the evaluation of cervical myelopathy.