[Imaging of the spinal canal using computed tomography]

The wall of the vertebral canal is formed differently at various levels of the spinal column. These differences depend both on the formation of the elements of the neural arch (pedicle and lamina), and on the arrangement of the joints of the articular processes. The outline of the vertebral canal is determined by the ligaments between the vertebrae, one of which - the ligamentum flavum - sometimes encroaches upon the space of the canal to a considerable effect. This work is intended to demonstrate that axial computed tomography is as a non-invasive technique at least as satisfactory as myelography for examination of the vertebral canal.