American Journal of Neuroradiology, Vol 13, Issue 4 1049-1055, Copyright © 1992 by American Society of Neuroradiology
ARTICLES |
MR imaging in radiation myelopathy
PY Wang, WC Shen and JS Jan
Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
PURPOSE: Using MR imaging, we assessed the signal, size, and enhancing characteristics of the cervical cord in patients in whom radiation myelopathy developed after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ten patients, 3 men and 7 women, aged from 32 to 77 years, were included. MR imaging was performed 1 to 53 months after clinical manifestations of myelopathy. RESULTS: Two cases showed atrophy of the cervical cord without abnormal signal intensity; in the others, a long segment of the cervical cord demonstrated low signal intensity on T1-weighted images and high signal intensity on T2- or T2*- weighted images. Some of these cases also showed swelling of the cord. Focal enhancement at C1-C2 area after intravenous administration of Gd- DTPA was seen in four cases. CONCLUSIONS: There is a correlation between the time of MR imaging after onset of symptoms and MR findings. When MR scans were obtained more than 3 years after onset of symptoms, atrophy of the cervical cord was noted without abnormal signal intensity. When MR was performed less than 8 months after onset of symptoms, a long segment of the cervical cord demonstrated abnormal signal intensity with or without associated swelling of the cord and focal enhancement.
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