Spinal Cord or Nerve Root Compression in Patients with Malignant Disease: CT Evaluation

Abstract

Patients (50) with malignant disease were seen on an emergency basis because they showed clinical signs of spinal cord or nerve root compression. All were studied with high resolution computed tomography (CT) of the spine; in addition, myelography was performed on 10 of the patients. It was found that 48 cases (96%) could be accurately diagnosed by CT alone. In 2 cases (4%), CT was inconclusive, but myelography was diagnostic; 1 proved to be CSF seeding with nerve root involvement and the other showed conus medullaris involvement. In the remaining 8 cases studied by both techniques, correlation between CT and myelography was very good.