Proper therapeutic management of acute spinal trauma depends considerably on the assessment of the condition of the underlying spinal cord and the relative stability of the surrounding bony architecture. A series of 14 patients who were examined by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging following spinal trauma is presented. Comparison of information gained by MR with that obtained by conventional CT indicates that MR is useful in assessing spinal cord compression, traumatic disk pathology, and post-traumatic intramedullary abnormalities. Computed tomography is more accurate in detecting posterior neural arch fractures and in assessing the number of displaced fragments.