Radiological Anatomy (Updated 2020)

You are reporting a case. You want to confirm the anatomy of a particular region. You try a Google search “XYZ region normal anatomy” and are lost in the umpteen irrelevant / paid pages. Or you end up with a file in your “Downloads” folder, which you have no idea what to do with! All you do is end up wasting time. I did the same as a resident.

The solution? I compiled all the relevant and FREE anatomy modules on one page for quick reference so that you do not have to go through the same ordeal!

Go ahead and try for yourself!

Introduction

Radiological anatomy is crucial for radiologists and forms the base for learning radiology. In their first year, residents should be well versed with normal radiographs, ultrasound and CT anatomy followed by MRI in the consequent years. I have found the following websites quite useful for learning normal imaging anatomy and would recommend residents to go through these. Also, these are very useful for students appearing for the anatomy module of the FRCR.

We have now updated the page with more than 20 normal radiological anatomy videos for different body parts. Also, there are videos for the basics of MRI sequences which will be beneficial for residents starting with their MR rotations.

Head-to-Toe normal radiological anatomy modules:

You will need flash to open a few of these web pages. Detailed instructions are available in the videos here and here. These links are best viewed on Google Chrome with Adobe Flash installed. Sometimes the modules at headneckbrainspine.com will get downloaded instead of playing, in such a situation try opening the website in another browser. Press ‘Ctrl+D’ (Windows)/ ‘⌘ +D’ (Mac users) to bookmark this page.

Note: If you are prompted to download a file or a file gets downloaded automatically when you click a link instead of a webpage, head over to the HeadNeckBrainSpine section to know why and how can you avoid that.

On mobile devices, click on individual headings (CT, MRI etc) to expand that category.

Headneckbrainspine.com

Update: “Since Adobe no longer supports Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and blocked Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems” – Adobe.com

Due to this recent change, the anatomy modules WILL NOT work on Internet Explorer or Chrome using the methods described below.

I will update this section if there is any new development.

Headneckbrainspine.com is an excellent resource for anatomy but it does not run on many devices and browsers, including Chrome. Also, it has been reported to be down a few times. These modules WILL not run on android and iOS mobile devices and iPads.

I can’t access headneckbrainspine.com anatomy modules. What are the solutions and alternatives?

• If the website is down, you can access the modules from here.
• Use Internet Explorer on Windows computers (until it ceases to exist!).
• Use Safari if using a MacBook.
• Use Flash Embed plugin for Chrome. Head to the plugin page and click “Add to chrome” and you will be able to view the anatomy modules at headneckbrainspine.com in your chrome browser.

Radiological Anatomy Reference Books

• Weir & Abrahams' Imaging Atlas of Human Anatomy
  • An excellent text to start off during the first year.
  • Covers radiography and cross-section anatomy as well.
• Pocket Atlas of Sectional Anatomy
  • Three volumes covering imaging anatomy
  • A good book to refer to when you are reporting CT and MR
  • All images are accompanied by line diagrams which makes it easy to understand.
• Applied Radiological Anatomy and Anatomy for Diagnostic Imaging – Ryan
  • Concise books for anatomy.
  • These are textbooks than atlases.
  • Recommended for the FRCR by a few radiologists.
• Applied Radiological Anatomy- Butler

Radiological Anatomy video collection

Index of normal radiological anatomy videos:

• Chest X-ray
• Abdominal radiograph X-ray
• Ultrasound abdomen
• Head CT Normal Anatomy and introduction
• Skull base CT normal anatomy with imaging of skull base foramina:
• Temporal Bone CT and MRI
• Paranasal sinuses – Part 2:
• Suprahyoid neck
• CT head and neck angiography
• Neck nodes levels
• CT Thorax normal radiological anatomy video:
• CT abdomen
• MRI brain
• Cervical spine MRI
• MRI Knee
• MRI Shoulder
• MRI Ankle
• Bonus videos: MRI basic sequences
• Body MRI sequences

Chest X-ray

Abdominal radiograph X-ray

Ultrasound abdomen

Head CT Normal Anatomy and introduction

Skull base CT normal anatomy with imaging of skull base foramina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XohoQ_z-Dg

Temporal Bone CT and MRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hyfQcykmNs

Paranasal sinuses – Part 1:

Paranasal sinuses – Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJEne0-ZGtA

Suprahyoid neck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lwJSdBJOqU

CT head and neck angiography

Neck nodes levels

CT Thorax normal radiological anatomy video:

CT abdomen

MRI brain

Cervical spine MRI

MRI Knee

MRI Shoulder

MRI Ankle

Also refer to this article: MRI evaluation of Ankle

MRI Elbow

MRI Wrist

MRI Hip

Bonus videos: MRI basic sequences

Body MRI sequences

Useful online references for radiological anatomy:

All credit goes to the original content creators for putting in all the hard work. I have only made it convenient for all of us.  Feel free to request/suggest additional anatomy modules here.

1. Radiology Masterclass: a Very good resource for students starting their radiology residency.
2. University of Washington: Not only do they cover MSK radiological anatomy, they have an extensive library of MSK resources.
3. Imaios E-Anatomy: They have excellent illustrations for all modalities and systems. However, most of the content requires a premium membership.
4. Headneckbrainspine.com: an excellent website which has detailed anatomy pertaining to the head and neck and has nearly 500 CT/ MR cases with a short description of each case.
5. Frietsrad:: Detailed MSK MRI anatomy.
6. Standford MSK MRI: Interestingly the site is called xrayhead.com! Illustrations are good but not as good as Frietsrad.
7. Imaging Anatomy: I have discovered this one recently, but this is the best of the lot! It has excellent anatomy modules in 3D MPR format. All their modules have options to display the label by default and on mouse over as well.  Just like you would view on any imaging workstation. It also has a unique module for Ultrasound knobology which a newly joined radiology residents would find useful.
8. W- Radiology: Although they have fewer illustrations for their images, they cover almost all systems.
9. Seattle Children’s Hospital – Radiology Atlases
10. Cross-section Tutorials: An old website but covers most of the systems
11. Wayne University radiologic anatomy: Another old website but useful for sure.
12. Radiopedia: Probably the most accessed radiology reference website. They have an anatomy section as well, however, most of it is plain text and very few illustrations currently.  Hence it features lower down on the list:

Last Updated on January 19, 2021

Related Posts ↓

📧 Radiology Newsletter↓

About the Author

---

Dr. Amar Udare, MD, DNB

Dr. Amar Udare is a board-certified radiologist. He is currently working as a fellow radiologist at McMaster University, Canada. He has a passion for teaching (#FOAMrad and #FOAMed) and has been a semi-finalist for the 2018 and 2020 Aunt-Minnie Most effective Radiology Educator Awards. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications which can be accessed on PubMed and Google Scholar.