2000 年 49 巻 2 号 p. 399-404
We investigated the correlation between the severity of cervical myelopathy and MRI findings.
Anterior cervical decompression and fusion in 70 patients with cervical myelopathy were prospectively assessed with MRI. The degree of compressed deformities in the cervical cord on sagittal T1-weighted MRI was classified into three groups: retraction (54%), improvement (39%), or unchanged (7%). Good correlation was observed between the severity of the cervical myelopathy (the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score, recovery rate and duration of symptoms) and the deformity of the cervical cord on sagittal T1-weighted MRI (p<0.05). Additionally, the cross-sectional area of the cord was measured at the site of maximum compression in 24 patients. The postoperative cross-sectional area of the cord was then divided by the preoperative cross-sectional area to obtain the enlargement ratio. No correlation was observed between the preoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association score and preoperative cross-sectional area of the cord, duration of symptoms or enlargement ratio.
The findings in the cervical cord on sagittal T1-weighted MRI proved useful in the assessment of the surgical results.