Magnetic resonance imaging of the thorax in childhood. Work in progress.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed in 10 children with intrathoracic disease. Entities imaged included mediastinal lymphoma and neuroblastoma, pulmonary metastases from hepatoblastoma and osteogenic sarcoma, hemorrhagic pleural effusion, and nonmalignant disease such as abscess, cystic fibrosis, and bronchogenic cyst. MR imaging was particularly valuable in delineating mediastinal and parenchymal masses from adjacent vascular structures without the need for contrast material enhancement. However, MR was insensitive to lesion calcification. Since pulmonary vessels give very low signal, differentiation of high-intensity pulmonary nodules from vessels is readily apparent. For similar reasons, MR was excellent in distinguishing endobronchial mucus plugs from peripheral pulmonary vessels.