[Imaging of non-traumatic and non-tumoral cord lesions]

[The contribution of MRI in the management of slowly progressive nontraumatic spinal cord compression]

Slow spinal cord compressions are due to the development of an expansive lesion within the medullary canal. This is a very common condition whose diagnosis is primarily clinical. The magnetic resonance imaging occupies a central and currently irreplaceable position in diagnosis and localization as well as in etiological research. Etiology of cancer is predominant in Europe. This study aims to describe the MRI features of slow spinal cord compressions and to determine its etiologic profile. This is a retrospective study of 97 cases whose data were collected at the Department of Radiology, National University Hospital Centre (CHUN) of Fann, over a period of 30 months (from March 8, 2010 to September 29 2012). All patients referred for slow spinal compression occurred in a non traumatic context were included in the study. The average age of patients was 42.6 years, ranging between 04 months and 85 years. We studied the topography of lesions (spinal floor, ductal compartments), their enhancement and their etiological criteria. The review protocol allowed the realization of T1-weighted sequences with no injection of gado, T2-weighted sequences, STIR sequences and T2-weighted DRIVE sequences centered on lesions levels or suspicious areas. MRI allowed to determine the exact location and the extent of lesions. The involvement of the thoracic spine occurred in 42% of cases, followed by the cervical spine in 32% of cases. The lumbosacral damages and multi-stage damages were found in 18% and 8% of cases respectively. Extradural lesions were found in 87% of cases, followed by intradural extramedullary lesions in 08% of cases and intramedullary lesions in 05% of cases. The peculiarity of etiologic profile of our study is the prevalence of infectious epiduritis and the relative frequency of metastatic epiduritis compared to the Western series. The vertebral-medullary MRI occupies a crucial place in the positive, topographic and etiological diagnosis of spinal cord compressions.