Description
A title in two volumes.
In the first edition of this book, entitled Computed Tomography of the Head, Neck, and Spine, we stressed the correlation of pathophysiology and CT imaging. We wanted our readers to understand why we see what we see on a CT scan. That approach was highly successful.
As we brought the first book to press, MHI was rapidly emerging. We wished to write as definitive a book on MRI as we had on CT, so we waited un- til MR contrast agents became available.
Throughout the late 1950s, it became apparent that MRI would become the imaging procedure of choice for many neurological diseases. However, in writing a book on MRI, we also wished to incorporate what we knew from CT. We had learned so much from CT that it was logical to carry it over to MR. For many of the diseases, CT and MR show similar types of findings, albeit with a slightly different appearance. In practice, the two are frequently intertwined: hence this book, which com bines the two modalities.
The divisions of this book are similar to those of the first book, except for the addition of a chapter on certain physical principles of MRI. There has been no attempt to introduce a great deal of physics in this book; other books are far more proficient in that undertaking. Rather, the chapter stresses the optimization of the MR scan, demonstrating ways to obtain better contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratios. We again ended the book with such exciting procedures as stereotactic tied to surgery on the MR scanner (just as we have per formed on CT scanners). In between, there is a discussion of numerous clinical entities, comparing and contrasting their MR and CT appearances.
We sincerely hope that our readers will conclude that with the publication of the second edition of MR and CT Imaging of the Head, Neck, and Spine, we have accomplished our goals.
RICHARD E LATCHAW, M.D.
