Applications of magnetic resonance imaging in diseases of the pediatric central nervous system.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is rapidly becoming the initial diagnostic step in the evaluation of gross abnormalities involving the brain or spinal cord in the pediatric patient. Control of patient motion and support of vital functions are critical if future utilization of MRI is to progress beyond its current outpatient diagnostic role. Currently, MRI's noninvasiveness, sensitivity and multiplanar graphic depiction of the disease process are supplanting the more traditional diagnostic modalities of CT, metrizamide CT, and myelography.