[Fine needle myelography. Current status]

One hundred three patients with different diseases of the vertebral or spinal column were studied with hydrosoluble myelography. In fifty-three patients spinal puncture was carried out with a 25 G needle (fine) and in the remaining 50 patients a 22 G needle (thick) was used. Post myelographic control by means of a scale which we designed permitted the clear establishment of the responsibility of needle diameter in the incidence of complications, fundamentally cephaleas with 11.3% with the 25 G needle vs 66% with the 22 G needle. Following the therapies herein suggested, only rarely was there a complication of little significance thereby encouraging the use of this method when non invasive procedures are insufficient for clarifying diagnostic doubts.