Radionuclide Angiography of Vascular Lesions of the Spinal Cord: Its Efficacy in Selecting Patients for Spinal Angiography

• Selective angiography of the spinal cord is essential for both definitive diagnosis and preoperative evaluation of vascular lesions of the spinal cord. However, the complexity of angiography precludes its use in evaluating every spinal cord lesion. Radionuclide angiography successfully demonstrated vascular lesions of the spinal cord in our two cases, one a hemangioblastoma and the other an arteriovenous malformation. Myelography had not been conclusive in either case. The value of radionuclide angiography as a screening test for vascular lesions of the cord is stressed.