Thoracic duct: visualization at nonenhanced MR lymphography--initial experience.

In six healthy volunteers, the thoracic duct was examined at magnetic resonance (MR) lymphography without contrast agent. With a 1.5-T clinical imager, a short echo spacing, three-dimensional, half-Fourier fast spin-echo sequence with electrocardiographic gating was employed to depict the thoracic duct along the thoracic aorta. The images clearly depicted the main duct in the region of the thoracic aorta in all six volunteers, drainage into the left subclavian region in four, and the cisterna chyli in one.