Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of head and neck tumor invading skull base

Magnetic resonance (MR) studies were performed on five patients of head and neck tumor with or without skull base invasions. In MRI, discontinuity of no signal line of skull base compact bone and a loss of high signal intensity of the fatty bone marrow indicate skull base destruction. Direct coronal and sagittal views can be obtained readily in MRI, and these are of great help to know the exact tumor extent. MRI is useful for the evaluation of skull base tumor invasion and for planning of its treatment. (author)