RATIONALE: Diagnostic procedures, such as specialized types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), may help in planning radiation therapy that does less damage to normal tissues.

PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying using functional MRI to see how well it works in planning radiation therapy in patients undergoing radiation therapy to the base of the skull and/or brain for nonmetastatic head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine the feasibility of applying established MRI techniques to map functional anatomic regions at potential risk in irradiated normal brain tissue of patients undergoing radiotherapy to the base of the skull and brain for head and neck neoplasms.
• To determine changes in cerebral blood flow and blood volume with perfusion MRI techniques in irradiated regions of the brain as a function of the radiation dose.

OUTLINE: Patients undergo MRI perfusion imaging and functional (fMRI) (standard structural imaging sequences, diffusion tensor imaging, arterial spin labeled perfusion imaging at rest, blood oxygen level dependent, and dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion weighted MRI) at baseline and 3 and 6 months after completion of radiotherapy. Patients may perform tasks for fMRI studies, including finger tapping, photic stimulation with a flashing light, solving math problems, comparing shapes, giving a speech, or listening to and reciting lists of words during fMRI image acquisition. Patients also undergo daily fractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed head and neck cancer that requires radiotherapy to the base of the skull
• No evidence of metastatic disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-1
• Life expectancy ≥ 1 year
• Not pregnant
• Negative pregnancy test
• Able to undergo standard CT simulation and radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery, including the capacity to comply with standard immobilization devices to the head and neck for daily irradiation
• Able to undergo standard MRI and deemed capable of complying with the immobilization needs and tasks required for functional MRIs
• No claustrophobia
• No patients with pacemakers, metal fragments in the eye, or certain metallic implants

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified

Base of skull and brain patients