Space-occupying, inflammatory and dyplastic lesions of the cranio-cervical junction seen in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Lesions of the cranio-cervical junction have acquired a special place amongst lesions of the posterior cranial fossa and the upper cervical region. This is due to the unusually long period between the appearance of the first symptoms and reaching a conclusive diagnosis. Frequently such lesions cannot be detected by either normal X-rays or conventional tomographic techniques. The introduction, however, of computer tomography (CT) and, in particular, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has made the examination of the critical zone of the cranio-cervical junction much easier and the diagnosis of thee lesions has now become largely dependent upon those techniques. Because soft tissue contrast is intrinsic to MRI this technique, in particular, has made possible substantial improvements in the quality of images of ligaments and soft tissue than those provided by standard CT. In this paper, the advantages which are provided by MRI in the context of the diagnosis of non-bony lesions in the cranio-cervical region are presented and discussed