MRI Thoracic Spine — routine
C7/T1 to L1/L2 inclusive, with axial sections through any abnormality.
Typical, not policy
Timings, volumes and delays here are representative values drawn from published guidance. Scanner generation, injector, cardiac output and local preference all move them. Confirm against your department's own protocol before you rely on a number.
When to use it
- A defined thoracic sensory level.
- Suspected thoracic disc herniation with myelopathy or a thoracic radicular pattern.
- Focal thoracic vertebral abnormality identified on radiograph or CT needing marrow and canal assessment.
- Localised thoracic pain with red flags where whole-spine coverage is not indicated.
- Post-traumatic thoracic deficit where ligamentous and cord assessment is needed.
Technique
- Sagittal T1, sagittal T2 and a sagittal fluid-sensitive fat-suppressed sequence; axial T2 through abnormal levels.
- Saturation bands anteriorly reduce respiratory and cardiac ghosting across the cord.
- Level counting should be anchored to a reproducible landmark and, where possible, cross-checked against a cervical or lumbar image or a prior radiograph.
- Flow-compensation and gating options vary by vendor and are the practical answer to cerebrospinal fluid pulsation artefact.
Where it goes wrong
- Miscounting levels, which is the single most consequential technical error in this region and can result in surgery at the wrong level.
- Cerebrospinal fluid pulsation artefact simulating an intradural lesion.
- Requesting a thoracic-only study for undifferentiated cord symptoms when whole-spine coverage was the appropriate scope.
- Cardiac motion degrading the mid-thoracic cord without saturation bands.
Clinical questions that reach this study
Contrast
None
- Unenhanced unless infection, tumour or inflammatory cord disease is the question.
Acquisition
- Breathing
- Free breathing; cardiac and respiratory motion degrade the mid-thoracic segment more than any other spinal region.
- Preparation
- Give the sensory level if there is one — it determines whether regional coverage is defensible at all. Counting vertebral levels on a thoracic-only study is error-prone; a cervical or lumbar localiser or a prior radiograph helps.
Safety checks this protocol carries
Derived from the contrast agent and phases above, not authored here — which is why they cannot drift apart from what the protocol actually does.
- MR safety screening for implants and foreign bodies· radiographer at scan