3T Magnetic Resonance Neurography (3T MRN)

High-resolution MR Neurography Evaluation of the Cervical Spine at 3 Tesla

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Healthy Adults
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: High-resolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography protocols

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.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Frederik Abel, MD; Phone Number: +41 44 386 33 27; Email: frederik.abel@balgrist.ch
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Reto Sutter, MD; Phone Number: +41 44 386 33 08; Email: reto.sutter@balgrist.ch

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Zurich, Switzerland, 8008
    • Balgrist University Hospital
    • Contact: Frederik Abel, MD; Phone Number: +41 44 386 33 27; Email: frederik.abel@balgrist.ch
    • Contact: Reto Sutter, MD; Phone Number: +41 44 386 33 08; Email: reto.sutter@balgrist.ch
    • Principal Investigator: Reto Sutter, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthy volunteers

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Healthy volunteers	Diagnostic test: High-resolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography protocols; Clinical standard three-dimensional magnetic resonance neurography sequences with high spatial resolution

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of visible small-caliber nerve segments	Visibility of small-caliber cervical nerves (phrenic, spinal accessory, dorsal scapular, vagus nerve) per segment (proximal, midsegment, distal) on both sides (left/right) per volunteer. Two board-certified radiologists with experience in MR Neurography will independently determine visibility (binary score: 0 = not visible, 1 = visible). Visibility is defined as continuous depiction of the nerve segment over its entire length with signal intensity clearly distinguishable from background tissue.	Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Image quality score across different acceleration factors	Image quality of small-caliber cervical nerves across varying acceleration factors will be independently assessed by two radiologists using a 4-point Likert scale (0 = poor/non-diagnostic, 2 = moderate, 3 = good, 4 = excellent).	Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout
Inter-reader agreement for visibility and image quality	Reliability of visibility and image quality of small-caliber cervical nerves and nerve segments will be assessed by inter-reader agreement.	Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout
Frequency of anatomic variants	Frequency of anatomical variants of small-caliber cervical nerves, reported as percentage of volunteers.	Within 12 weeks after MRI acquisition during radiological readout

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Balgrist University Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 20, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 30, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 7, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 7, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 30, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: MRI; Cervical spine; 3 Tesla; Magnetic Resonance Neurograghy; Cervical nerves
• Other Study ID Numbers: R509

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No