Plain radiography in the evaluation of cervicobrachial neuralgia

Standard radiography is indispensable to the initial evaluation of cervicobrachial neuralgia. Its main purpose is not to detect a nucleus pulposus herniation or a spondylarthrosis responsible for the neuralgia, but to exclude a possible malignancy. In some cases standard radiography points out to a less frequent cause, such as constitutional stenosis of intervertebral foramina not necessarily associated with a narrow vertebral canal.