Magnetic resonance imaging of thyroid swellings

The preoperative diagnosis of some thyroid neoplasms remains difficult even with the routine use of fine-needle aspiration cytology. The potential of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to discriminate between different thyroid pathologies was explored prospectively and compared with the final pathology in series of 37 patients, MRI yielded high-quality images of the thyroid swelling but did not provide additional information to differentiate benign from neoplastic lesions. MRI does not contribute to the routine management of thyroid swellings.