STUDY DESIGN Prospective study. PURPOSE We present a series of 50 patients with tuberculous cord compression who were offered systematic non-surgical treatment, and thereby, the author proposes that clinico-radiological soft tissue cord compression is not an emergency indication for surgery. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Spinal cord compression whether clinical or radiological has usually been bel...

Malignant spinal cord compression is a common oncological emergency. Three cases are presented to illustrate some important management aspects of malignant spinal cord compression. In general, the definitive treatment of malignant spinal cord compression depends on the patient’s performance status, the life expectancy and the type of malignancy. Radiotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. Single...

We studied MR images of the spine in a consecutive series of 100 patients with acute compression of the spinal cord due to metastases. All patients had documented neurological deficit and histologically proven carcinoma. MRI was used to localise bony metastatic involvement and soft-tissue impingement of the cord. A systematic method of documenting metastatic involvement is described. A total of...

BACKGROUND Metastatic spinal cord compression is a dreaded complication of cancer affecting 5-10% of patients requiring urgent treatment. A clinical practice improvement project was carried out to review and fine tune the clinical pathway for the acute management of patients with metastatic spinal cord compression. OBJECTIVE To improve the quality of care for metastatic spinal cord compressio...

Neurological degeneration can occur after compression of the spinal cord. It is widely accepted that spinal cord compression leads to ischemic lesions and ultimately neurological dysfunction due to a narrowed spinal canal. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of spinal cord compression injury is required to help develop effective clinical interventions. In the present study,...

PURPOSE To assess the extent of demyelination in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) using myelin water imaging (MWI) and electrophysiologic techniques. METHODS Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) and MWI were acquired in 14 patients with CSM and 18 age-matched healthy controls. MWI was performed on a 3.0T whole body magnetic resonance scanner. Myelin water fraction (MWF) was extracted ...

Neuroblastoma is a nervous system malignancy. The extension of intra-abdominal neuroblastoma to the spinal canal is a rare condition. In this case report, we present a patient with monoplegia and a huge intra-abdominal mass with intra spinal extension and cord compression.

MR imaging was performed on 21 patients who had high-grade myelographic block due to various diseases in all spinal compartments (extradural, intradural/extramedullary, and intramedullary) and in all portions of the spinal canal (cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral). Loss of CSF pulsation artifacts due to significant compression of the spinal cord was demonstrated on non-motion-compensated T2-w...

Spinal cord compression is a major cause of morbidity and or mortality in a cancer patient. This is one of the few oncologic emergencies, as delay in therapy leads to frank paralysis. Several key areas must be considered in the diagnosis and management of spinal cord compression. Because the outcome can be devastating, a diagnosis must be made early and treatment initiated promptly. The purpose...