Visualization of the foramen intervertebral nerve root of cervical spine with 3.0 tesla magnetic resonance imaging: a comparison of three-dimensional acquisition techniques.

Identification of the compression factor in cervical disc herniation and cervical spondylotic radioculopathy is often problematic when using two-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This prompted us to compare and examined three-dimensional sequences, coherent oscillatory state acquisition for the manipulation of image contrast (COSMIC), fast imaging employing steady state acquisition (FIESTA) and T2 star weighted MR angiography (SWAN) with 3.0-Tesla (T) MRI to visualize the foramen intervertebral nerve root for the cervical spine. Fat-suppressed COSMIC (FS-COSMIC) sequence gave the highest signal intensity ratio (1.85 ± 0.06) of the nerve root and vertebral arch. A significant difference in signal intensity ratio of the nerve root was found between FS-COSMIC and FIESTA sequences. No significant difference was found between the FS-COSMIC and FIESTA sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid and the spinal cord. The FS-COSMIC sequence proved to be the most suitable sequence for intra and extra dura matter.