Dalley R W
Department of Radiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle 98195, USA.
Semin Ultrasound CT MR. 1996 Dec;17(6):576-604. doi: 10.1016/s0887-2171(96)90005-0.
The anatomy of the thoracic inlet and lesions of the thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, and brachial plexus are discussed in depth in other articles in this issue. The focus of this article is to review lesions of the remaining structures and spaces that abut or traverse through the plane of the thoracic inlet. Although this junction of the neck with the chest is relatively easy to define on coronal or sagittal MR, determining this level with axial CT and MR is actually a bit of a challenge. Depending on neck length, degree of neck extension, shoulder thickness, arm position, thoracic kyphosis, and scan angle, the appearance of this area is extremely variable. For the purpose of this article, the thoracic inlet is better regarded as a zone or volume extending several centimeters both above and below this plane. In addition, this zone is very prone to CT beam hardening artifacts from the thickness of the shoulders as well as MR pulsation, respiratory, and bulk susceptibility artifacts, often resulting in less than esthetic images.
本期其他文章深入探讨了胸廓入口的解剖结构以及甲状腺、甲状旁腺和臂丛神经的病变。本文的重点是回顾毗邻或穿过胸廓入口平面的其余结构和间隙的病变。尽管在冠状面或矢状面磁共振成像（MR）上，颈部与胸部的交界处相对容易界定，但在轴向计算机断层扫描（CT）和MR上确定该层面实际上颇具挑战。根据颈部长度、颈部伸展程度、肩部厚度、手臂位置、胸椎后凸以及扫描角度的不同，该区域的表现差异极大。为便于本文讨论，胸廓入口最好视为在该平面上下各延伸数厘米的一个区域或容积。此外，该区域极易受到肩部厚度导致的CT束硬化伪影以及MR搏动、呼吸和容积敏感性伪影的影响，常常致使图像效果不佳。
