# Determination of the Efficiency of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Evaluation of Compressive Myelopathy

## TL;DR

This study shows that MRI is highly effective in diagnosing spinal cord compression caused by various conditions.

## Contribution

The study evaluates MRI's diagnostic accuracy in compressive myelopathy through correlation with surgical and histopathological findings.

## Key findings

- MRI accurately identified compressive myelopathy etiologies like trauma, infection, and tumors.
- Extradural lesions were more common (84%) than intradural-extramedullary lesions (16%).
- MRI findings correlated well with intraoperative and histopathological results.

## Abstract

Background

The phrase "compressive myelopathy" refers to compression of the spinal cord, either internally or externally. This compression might arise from various sources such as a herniated disc, post-traumatic compression, and epidural abscess as well as epidural or intradural neoplasms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a crucial role in differentiating between compressive and non-compressive myelopathy. After eliminating compressive lesions, attention is directed toward intrinsic cord-related causes of acute myelopathy including vascular, infectious, and inflammatory pathologies.

Aims

The study aimed to assess different etiologies of compressive myelopathy, analyze the MRI features of spinal cord compressive lesions, classify the lesions depending on site, and correlate MRI findings with intraoperative findings and histopathology in operated cases.

Material & methods

A total of 50 patients, who exhibited clinical symptoms indicative of compressive myelopathy sent to the Radiology department, Rangaraya Medical College (RMC), Kakinada for MRI spine were included in the study. It’s an observational cross-sectional study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, USA) was used for statistical calculations.

Result

Among the 50 cases of compressive myelopathy, the etiologies are distributed as follows: trauma (22 cases), infection (12 cases), primary neoplasm (eight cases), and secondary neoplasm (eight cases); extradural compressive lesions (84%) and Intradural-extramedullary lesions (16%).

Conclusion

Utilizing MRI successfully assessed the spinal cord integrity and characterized spinal tumors. Consequently, the study concludes that MRI is a highly definitive, sensitive, and accurate tool for evaluating compressive myelopathy.