Comparison of T-2-weighted turbo-spin echo sequence and ultra-fast HASTE sequence in the diagnosis of cervical myelopathies and spinel stenoses against static and kinematic MRT of the cervical spine

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare HASTE-sequence with T-2-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 T-2-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 T-2-weighted TSE-sequence but none in the HASTE-sequence. Cervical myelopathy was observed in 4 patients in T-2-weighted TSE images but only in two cases using HASTE-sequence. Compared to T-2-weighted TSE-sequence spinal canal stenosis was underestimated using HASTE-sequence. Conclusion: T-2-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.