3T Magnetic Resonance Neurography
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: High-resolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography protocols.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Healthy Adults. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Switzerland
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
High-resolution MR Neurography Evaluation of the Cervical Spine at 3 Tesla
Overview
The goal of this observational study is to evaluate whether optimized high-resolution MRI can better visualize very fine nerves in the cervical spine and neck region compared to standard MRI. The main question it aims to answer is: Can high-resolution MRI reliably show small nerves and potentially detect their injuries or diseases that are often invisible on conventional MRI scans? Participants will come once to Balgrist University Hospital for a one-hour visit. They will fill out a questionnaire and have a single 30-minute MRI scan of the cervical spine without contrast.
Detailed description
Diseases and injuries of the nerves in the area of the cervical spine and neck region are among the most common causes of pain in the neck, shoulder, and arm areas. To clarify the cause of the pain, an MRI examination of the neck region is therefore very often requested in order to visualize the nerves. However, some very fine nerves - in particular the smaller branches of the cervical nerves - are so thin that they can usually only be visualized incompletely or not at all reliably with conventional MRI techniques. As a result, injuries or diseases of some nerves frequently remain undetected, even though these nerves perform important motor functions - for example, the movement of the shoulder, the arm, or (in rare cases) also the diaphragm. Through modified and technically advanced MRI protocols (in particular high-resolution MR neurography), significantly better images can now be generated.
This study therefore investigates whether these special techniques can also clearly depict even very small nerves, so that these techniques can be applied in the future to patients with pathological changes and these changes can be better identified.
Participation involves a single visit to Balgrist University Hospital. The time commitment is one hour. Participants receive oral information about the project, complete a short questionnaire, and subsequently undergo the MRI examination. The time spent in the MRI scanner is approximately 30 minutes.
Interventions
- Diagnostic test High-resolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography protocols
Clinical standard three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography sequences with high spatial resolution
Primary outcome measures
- Proportion of visible small-caliber nerve segments [Time frame: Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout]
Secondary outcome measures (3)
- Image quality score across different acceleration factors [Time frame: Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout]
- Inter-reader agreement for visibility and image quality [Time frame: Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout]
- Frequency of anatomic variants [Time frame: Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
\- written consent to agree to participate in this study
Exclusion criteria
- <18 years of age
- pregnancy
- known cervical spine pathology or history of neck surgery
- contraindication to perform non-contrast-enhanced MRI
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
Study locations
Switzerland · 1 center
- Balgrist University Hospital — Zurich
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07513467 · R509