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[MR myelography: analysis of 126 cases]
1Department of Radiology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China.
Objective:
To investigate the value and limitation of MR myelography (MRM) in depicting the spinal canal obstruction.
Methods:
Heavily T2-weighted coronal MR myelography was performed with 3D fast-spin-echo (FSE) and fat-suppression sequence in 126 cases, including 6 cerebellomedullary cistern, 18 cervical, 19 thoracic and 83 lumbar cases. The resulting slice were then projected into a composite image using a standard maxium intensity projection (MIP) algorithm.
Results:
90.5% (114/126) of MRM yielded reproducible high-quality image of the spinal thecal sac. 106 lesions (extradural, intradural, intramedullary) were detected in 101 cases (80.2%). The level and degree of spinal canal obstruction were visualized and confirmed by operation in 66 cases with a high sensitivity of 100%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 91.3%.
Conclusion:
Heavily T2 FSE MR myelography is a noninvasive and reliable method. MRM surpasses conventional and CT myelography and could replace them in some degree.