MR images were obtained with a Philips Achieva 1.5 T MR system. MR examinations were performed with an anterior surface neck coil and T1-weighted spin echo and T2 turbo spin echo images in axial and coronal projection, without contrast, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and T1w spin echo sequences with fat saturation after paramagnetic contrast infusion of gadolinium chelate were obtained. The number of the sections was 20 for all sequences. The sections were 3-4 mm of interspace thickness with a 1 mm intersection gap. The evaluation of cartilage invasion followed the new criteria proposed by Becker et al. Specifically, T2-weighted or T1-weighted post-Mdc cartilage signal intensity greater than that of the adjacent tumor was considered to indicate inflammation, and signal intensity similar to that of the adjacent tumor was considered to indicate neoplastic invasion [16 (link)]. The DWI was performed to better discriminate peritumoral edema from neoplastic tissue, but, at present, there are no studies reporting the performance of DWI. The advantage introduced by DWI sequence consists in obtaining information about the cellularity of tissues [14 (link)–16 (link)].
The T staging by MRI classified eight patients as T1a, 6 T1b, and 6 T3.
The T staging by MRI classified eight patients as T1a, 6 T1b, and 6 T3.