Experiences with MR tomography after cervical spinal trauma

: MRI has been evaluated in a series of 26 patients, who suffered blunt cervical spine injuries at least 6 weeks previously, and had continuous clinical signs of radicular (n = 8) and medullary (n = 18) syndromes. In 6 patients MRI visualised localised posttraumatic intramedullary parenchymal changes; 5 patients had posttraumatic cord atrophies and 2 patients "traumatic" disc herniations. Besides direct traumatic lesions, pre-existing uni-, bi- or multisegmental degenerative cervical spinal stenosis must be considered because it predisposes to spinal cord injury. MRI is an important supplementary diagnostic measure after cervical spine trauma when there are clinical signs of cervical local, radicular or medullary syndromes, because intra- or extramedullary lesions can be visualised. However it must be emphasized that with present MR techniques not all "microcystic" posttraumatic spinal cord degenerations can be visualised, even if there are clear neurological signs of myelopathy or radiculopathy.