Magnetic resonance imaging of head and neck tumors.

Magnetic resonance imaging has revolutionized the imaging of head and neck malignancies and is now rapidly replacing computed tomography as the study of choice in the majority of lesions in the head, neck, larynx, hypopharynx, oropharynx, paranasal sinuses, paranasopharynx, and skull base. CT scanning can be used in the same region; however, inflammation obtained in CT is not as clearly demonstrated and in some situations, such as malignancies of the tongue, the lesions may be missed entirely. There are still occasional difficult clinical problems when the two studies are complementary, but this situation will definitely be rare.