Comparison of Ultrasonography and MRI in Measuring of Cervical Soft Tissue Structure / 대한정형외과학회잡지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We wanted to determine the usefullness of ultrasonography for exploring cervical anatomical structures and to compare its results with those of magnetic resonance imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between May, 2008 and January, 2009, 16 patient (8 male patients and 8 female patients, average age: 55.5 years old) with neck pain following in out patient clinic and who had cervical MRI performed were selected. By using ultrasonography, we measured the shortest distance of the internal carotid artery, internal jugular vein, sternocleidomastoid muscle and longus colli muscle based on the vertebral body of cricoid cartilage. We also measured the thickness of the longus colli muscle. We measured the average length of the shortest distance and thickness of C6 on MRI axial view. RESULTS: The length using ultrasonography showed that the average length was 2.12 cm for the internal carotid artery, 3.04 cm for the internal jugular vein, 4.34 cm for the sternocleidomastoid muscle and 0.68 cm for the longus colli muscle. Cervical MRI was used to measure the same structures. Its results were 2.23 cm for the internal carotid artery, 3.14 cm for the internal jugular vein, 4.39 cm for the sternocleidomastoid muscle and 0.70 cm for the longus colli muscle. We also measured the thickness of the longus colli muscle with ultrasonography and cervical MRI, and the results were 0.77 cm and 0.76 cm, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between ultrasonography and MRI for the measurement of length, but there was a statistically significant difference for the measurement of thickness. CONCLUSION: There was a significant difference for the measurement of cervical anatomical stuctures using ultrasonography, and especially the longus coli thickness, as compared with that of MRI. Therefore, we suggest that ultrasonography can give more useful information for the diagnosis and treatment of problems in the cervical spinal field.