title: MRI-guided access to the retropharynx.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe MR-guided access to the retropharynx for precise fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), and other indications for needle placement.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review was made of 15 procedures that had been performed on 14 patients. These patients had a retropharyngeal mass on MRI and had undergone MR-guided minimally invasive access to the retropharynx for either diagnostic or therapeutic intervention in the period of October 1989 to January 2000.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 14 patients underwent MR-guided access to the retropharynx for FNAC without immediate or delayed complications. MRI confirmed that the biopsy needle was within the retropharyngeal mass in all patients. MR-guided FNAC revealed five true-positive, five true-negative, four indeterminate, and no false-positive cases. Ten of the 14 patients (71%) had diagnostic aspirations. In one patient with retropharyngeal extension of carcinoma, an MR-guided approach was used for the experimental interstitial laser therapy (ILT).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that an MR-guided retromandibular approach to biopsy of retropharyngeal mass is minimally invasive and safe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. apwlai@pol.net
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ellie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maghami
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: Shahram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonyadilou
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abemayor
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lufkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies