[Computed tomographic diagnosis of pre- and paravertebral masses in the thorax and retroperitoneum]

CT is the method of choice in the diagnostic identification and clarification of prevertebral and paravertebral space-occupying growths before initiating invasive methods of diagnosis and before surgery. CT supplies decisive information by means of the transversal tomography, which is free from overlapping, and enables determination of relative densities. A most important feature is the safe exclusion of any aortoilacal aneurysm via differential diagnosis. The possibilities and limitations of computed tomography are discussed on the basis of several examples, namely, a lateral intrathoracic meningocele, a mediastinal bronchogenic cyst, a retroperitoneal fibrosis, lymph node metastases and hypostatic abscesses.