Abstract
Twenty-five patients were studied by MRI. Of them, 15 were men and 10 were women, ranging in age from 34 to 83 years old (mean, 58.4 years). Their spinal diseases included 5 tuberculous spondylitis, 2 other spondylitis, 7 malignant spinal tumor, 1 benign spinal tumor and 10 primary osteoporosis. We tried to classify the body lesion signal intensity into 4 types; low, iso, high and mixed signal intensity. Results were as follows:
1. Short SE image seems to be sensitive in the detection of abnormal spinal lesions.
2. Spinal tumor can be distinguished from inflammatory spondylitis by the lack of involvement of the disc space.
3. On the T2-weighted image, the signal intesity of spinal tumors was not consistent although tumor cells had a prolonged T2 relaxation time.
4. Osteoporotic compression fracture did not necessarily show iso signal intensity on MRI at acute or subacute phase.
