Fast magnetic resonance imaging in spinal trauma

SUMMARYIn a prospective comparison between fast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences and conventional spin‐echo in a series of 20 patients, gradient‐echo imaging was found to be inferior to spin‐echo, especially in the visualization of spinal cord oedema, and the use of a rapid spin‐echo sequence was limited by inferior visualization of haemorrhage. While the use of a combination of these two fast imaging techniques resulted in equivalent results to conventional spin‐echo, the increased imaging time suggests that fast MRI cannot, as yet, replace conventional spin‐echo techniques in acute spinal trauma.