Cervical spine MRI is a suitable tool in the assessment of all cervical spine (vertebrae C1 - C7) segments (computed tomography (CT) images may be unsatisfactory close to the thoracic spine due to shoulder artifacts). The cervical spine is particularly susceptible to degenerative problems caused by the complex anatomy and its large range of motion.
Advantages of magnetic resonance imaging MRI are the high soft tissue contrast (particularly important in diagnostics of the spinal cord), the ability to display the entire spine in sagittal views and the capacity of 3D visualization. Magnetic resonance myelography is a useful supplement to conventional MRI examinations in the investigation of cervical stenosis. Myelographic sequences result in MR images with high contrast that are similar in appearance to conventional myelograms. Additionally, open MRI studies provide the possibility of weight-bearing MRI scan to evaluate structural positional and kinetic changes of the cervical spine.
Indications of cervical spine MRI scans include the assessment of soft disc herniations, suspicion of disc hernia recurrence after operation, cervical spondylosis, osteophytes, joint arthrosis, spinal canal lesions (tumors, multiple sclerosis, etc.), bone diseases (infection, inflammation, tumoral infiltration) and paravertebral spaces.
State-of-the-art phased array spine coils and high performance MRI machines provide high image quality and short scan time. Imaging protocols for the cervical spine includes sagittal T1 weighted and T2 weighted sequences with 3-4 mm slice thickness and axial slices; usually contiguous from C2 through T1. Additionally, T2 fat suppressed and T1 post contrast images are often useful in spine imaging.

See also Lumbar Spine MRI.

(CSI) Chemical shift imaging is an extension of MR spectroscopy, allowing metabolite information to be measured in an extended region and to add the chemical analysis of body tissues to the potential clinical utility of Magnetic Resonance. The spatial location is phase encoded and a spectrum is recorded at each phase encoding step to allow the spectra acquisition in a number of volumes covering the whole sample. CSI provides mapping of chemical shifts, analog to individual spectral lines or groups of lines.
Spatial resolution can be in one, two or three dimensions, but with long acquisition times od full 3D CSI. Commonly a slice-selected 2D acquisition is used. The chemical composition of each voxel is represented by spectra, or as an image in which the signal intensity depends on the concentration of an individual metabolite. Alternatively frequency-selective pulses excite only a single spectral component.
There are several methods of performing chemical shift imaging, e.g. the inversion recovery method, chemical shift selective imaging sequence, chemical shift insensitive slice selective RF pulse, the saturation method, spatial and chemical shift encoded excitation and quantitative chemical shift imaging.

See also Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

A measurement parameter, used e.g. for a short TR, to be able to measure more slices, or to prevent cross talk in the case of short slice distance.

Quick Overview
Please note that there are different common names for this artifact.

This artifact appears as a herringbone pattern scattered over the whole image in any direction only on one slice or on multiple slices. The causes of this are many and various, like e.g. electromagnetic spikes created by the gradients, electronic equipment inside the MR procedure room, or fluctuating AC current.

Sometimes it is sufficient to change flickering light bulbs. If the problem increases or keeps on existing, it should be addressed by a service representative.

(DQA) This MRI scan or MRI procedure is used by system operators to verify system operation based on relevant image quality parameters like e.g., SNR, slice thickness, geometric distortion, slice position, image resolution and ghosting.
The quality assurance should carry out according to instructions of the manufacturer, normally using the head coil. In addition, SNR can be measured monthly on a selection of commonly used coils. Weekly recording of these parameters is recommended for clinical MRI machines, as this allows early detecting of deviations from acceptable limits.