MRI of Intraspinal Cysticercosis

Purpose ; To describethe MR features of intraspinal cysticercosis. Materials and Methods ; Medical records and MR images of four cases of intraspinal cysticercosis were retrospectively reviewed. The MR findings were described with regard to the location and signal intensity of the lesions, contrast enhancement, presence or absence of associated intracranial cysticerci , and otherfindings. Results ; There were three cases of subarachnoidal form and one case of intramedullary form. Cysticerci of subarachnoidal form in three cases were located i n retromedu lIary space at C2 level, anterior to cord at C1 C6 levels, and lumbosacral area , respectively. The signal intensities of the lesions were same as those of CSF. Localized arachnoidal enhancement wasfound in all three cases.ln one case there was a large area of high signal intensity with in the spinal cord on T2 -weighted image suggesting either ischemia secondary to vascular compromise or inflammatory edema . AII of these three cases accompanied intracranial cysticercosis . lntramedullary cysticercosis in onecase wasshown as a single 1 cm cystic lesion at C2 level, which showed hypointense signal on T1 -weighted image, hyperintense signal on T2 -weighted image, and signet ring like enhancement. This lesion did not accompany intracranial cysticerci. Conclusion; Intraspinal cysticercosis manifested as single or multiple cysts within either spinal cord or subarachnoid space, and were frequently associated with arachnoiditis.