[Dissociation of Anatomical (Neurological) Diagnosis and Imaging Diagnosis]

Identification of various spine and spinal cord disordes using anatomical diagnosis (neurological diagnosis) and imaging diagnosis is essential for effective caring of patients with these disorders; however, sometimes, dissociation of the two diagnoses is encountered. There is a risk of a diagnosis error if the causative pathophysiology of this dissociation is not understood. To avoid this error, it is necessary to fully understand the related pathophysiology of these disorders, including deviation of spinal cord segment from the spine, central cord syndrome, sensory disturbance of cervical radiculopathy, epiconus syndrome and conus medullaris syndrome, tethered spinal cord syndrome and lumbar intraforaminal and extraforaminal nerve root disturbance.