Objective: To evaluate prospectively diagnostic values of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the initial examination for vascular malformations of the head and neck, and establish a flowchart based on radiodiagnostic features.
Methods: 45 patients with vascular malformations of the head and neck were evaluated prospectively with MRI. MRI was followed by angiography in 15 patients, contrast-enhanced CT in 15 patients. MRI was performed by using spin-echo pulse sequences with Philips Gyroscan NT 1.0 Teslaunit.
Results: In all cases, MRI demonstrated usefully, and there was no other single imaging modality that could provide information about internal structures and flow characteristics as much as MRI. It made differentiation between high-flow and low-flow lesions obvious, however MRI was inferior to angiography in delineation of feeder vessels.
Conclusion: MRI can be used as the initial methods for diagnosis of vascular malformations in the head and neck, and could be combined with angiography in cases with high-flow or combined-flow lesions.