MR imaging of spinal neurofibromatosis

The MR findings in 7 patients with neurofibromatosis involving the spine were evaluated. Six patients had paraspinal tumors at multiple levels. In 4 they were bilateral. Five patients had multiple intraspinal lesions, frequently with growth through the neural foramen. In one patient paraspinal tumors were found in the lumbar sacral plexus and in another bony dysplasia and meningoceles but no tumors were disclosed. In 2 patients the lesions were associated with bilateral acoustic neuromas and multiple intracranial meningeomas. In one of these a spinal meningeoma with signal characteristics close to spinal cord was found. The other tumors had a signal that was equal to or slightly lower than the spinal cord and slightly higher than muscle on T1-weighted images. On T2-weighted images the tumors had a markedly increased signal compared to surrounding tissue. In 3 patients with tumors larger than 4 cm the signal intensity was inhomogeneous with decreased signal in the center on T2-weighted images, indicating the presence of increased fibrous tissue. Gadolinium-DTPA was given to one patient with marked increase in intensity of small tumors on T1-weighted images. The study shows that MR imaging is the modality of choice for evaluating most aspects of spinal and paraspinal neurofibromatosis.