Prior to the advent of computer-assisted imaging techniques, conventional radiographic studies did not accurately depict the severity of soft tissue injury (spinal cord and paravertebral tissue) attending severe spinal trauma. Computed tomography scanning is clearly superior to plain radiography in the demonstration of osseous fractures and impactions, but this modality does not clearly depict ligamentous or disc injuries and does not image the spinal cord directly. The authors' preliminary experience indicates that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) more accurately defines the extent of soft tissue damage in the zone of injury. In this study, the authors correlate these objective imaging techniques with findings on neurologic exam. Seventy-eight patients with cervical spine injuries admitted to the Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley between August 1987 and January 1989 were evaluated with surface-coil MRI on a 1.5-Tesla unit. Fifty-nine patients were studied within 7 days of injury. Image sequences consisting of T1-, proton density, and T2-weighted images were obtained in saggital views. Axial gradient recalled acquisitions in the steady state (GRASS) images were obtained from most patients. We learned that certain patterns of MRI signal were associated with severe neurologic deficit. These include: 1) intramedullary hematoma and 2) spinal cord contusion associated with edema encompassing more than one spinal segment. Magnetic resonance imaging findings also correlated with less severe injury and include 1) normal spinal cord signal and 2) small focal contusions associated with edema encompassing one spinal segment or less.