Magnetic resonance imaging of soft tissue tumors.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was compared to computed tomography (CT) in 14 patients with soft tissue tumors. Seven patients were with benign tumors and the other 7 with malignant tumors. In benign tumors, MRI was judged superior to CT in 3 of the patients, and equal in four, whereas it was evaluated superior to CT in 6 out of 7 patients with malignant tumors. MRI was superior to CT in delineating the extent of the neoplasm and in contrast with surrounding structures, especially in malignant tumors. In addition, saggital or coronal images obtained by MRI were valuable in determining the longitudinal extent of the tumors. The histological diagnosis was not determined by either MRI or CT. Finally, we concluded that MRI was more useful than CT as an imaging technique.