Magnetic resonance imaging in cervical spinal cord compression

In patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy MRI sometimes shows increased signal intensity zones on the T2-weighted images. It has been suggested that these findings carry prognostic significance. We studied 56 subjects with cervical spinal cord compression. Twelve patients showed an increased signal intensity (21.4%) and a prevalence of narrowing of the AP-diameter (62% vs 24%). Furthermore, in this group, there was evidence of a longer mean duration of the symptoms and, in most of the patients, of more serious clinical conditions. The importance of these predisposing factors remains, however, to be clarified since they are also present in some patients without the increased signal intensity.