Comparative Imaging of Cervical Myelopathy

Cervical  myelopathy is the most common disorder of the spinal cord in persons older than 55 years of age. Radiologic spondylotic changes increase with patient age - 90% of asymptomatic persons older than 70 years have some form of degenerative change in the cervical spine. Cervical spine myelopathy resulting from sagittal narrowing of the spinal canal and compression of the spinal cord is present in 90% of individuals by the seventh decade of life. Both sexes are affected equally. Cervical spondylosis usually starts earlier in men (50 years) than in women (60 years). It causes hospitalization at a rate of 4.04 per 100,000 person-years. Find this Pin and more on  Cervical Myelopathy  by  Donna Cowden .

This blog is an assignment for one of our core courses in Bachelor of Radiography and Diagnostic Imaging, Comparative Imaging (AHRD 4152). Before that, we would like to express our gratitude to Dr Norhanna Binti Sohaimi , our course coordinator. The purpose of this blog is to review few articles regarding Cervical Myelopathy and determine what is the gold standard to diagnose the pathology. In this blog, we compared literature details of various modalities which are conventional radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and myelography. Thus, the objective of this blog is to study the most effective modality in assessing cervical myelopathy with the best image quality and diagnostic accuracy. Based on the articles reviewed, it is proved that there is no gold standard to facilitate the diagnosis of cervical myelopathy but magnetic resonance imaging is the most common used result from the details of the image generated. All articles showed that indicati...

Author’s Name C. Green, J. Butler, S. Eustace, A. Poynton, and J. M. O’Byrne Article Title Imaging Modalities for Cervical Spondylotic Stenosis and Myelopathy (2012) Journal Name Advances in Orthopedics 1) Bibliography Green, C., Butler, J., Eustace, S., Poynton, A., & Obyrne, J. M. (2012). Imaging Modalities for Cervical Spondylotic Stenosis and Myelopathy. Advances in Orthopedics, 2012, 1-4. doi:10.1155/2012/908324 2) Purpose of the Article The purpose of this article was to compare the imaging modalities employed for a central assessment of the cervical spine which should determine the extent and site of canal stenosis and any associated myelopathy. 3) Brief Description of Procedure and Findings/Results This article summarizes that in CM, MRI can show the pathological spinal cord changes in cervical spondylotic myelopathy as well as the anatomy of spinal cord compression. Signal change not only indicates the presence of myelopathic change...

Author’s Name Chuan Zhang, Sushant K Das, Dong-Jun Yang, Han-Feng Yang Article Title Application of magnetic resonance imaging in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (2014) Journal Name Advances in Orthopedics 1) Bibliography Zhang, C. (2014). Application of magnetic resonance imaging in cervical spondylotic myelopathy. World Journal of Radiology, 6(10), 826. doi:10.4329/wjr.v6.i10.826 2) Purpose of the Article The purpose of this article was to investigate the application of MR technology to the management of CSM patients and discusses recent and future advances in both conventional and novel MR techniques. 3) Brief Description of Procedure and Findings/Results This article summarizes that: i) Conventional MRI provides excellent anatomical information about the spinal cord macrostructure and gives insight into structural histopathological changes in CSM patients. ii) Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a noninvasive MRI technique that measures the random motion of wat...

Author’s Name Feras J. Waly, Fahad H. Abduljabbar, Maryse Fortin, Anas Nooh and Michael Weber Article Title Preoperative Computed Tomography Myelography Parameters as Predictors of Outcome in Patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Results of a Systematic Review (2017) Journal Name Global Spine Journal 1) Bibliography Waly, F. J., Abduljabbar, F. H., Fortin, M., Nooh, A., & Weber, M. (2017). Preoperative Computed Tomography Myelography Parameters as Predictors of Outcome in Patients With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Results of a Systematic Review. Global Spine Journal, 7(6), 521-528. doi:10.1177/2192568217701101 2) Purpose of the Article The purpose of this article was to determine the preoperative computed tomography (CT) myelogram imaging parameters in patients diagnosed with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) that correlate with severity of DCM and predict postoperative patients’ functional outcome.  3) Brief Description o...

Author’s Name Andrei F. Joaquim, Enrico Ghizoni, Helder Tedeschi, Wellington K. Hsu, Alpesh A. Patel Article Title Management of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy – An Update (2016) Journal Name Revista Da Associação Médica Brasileira 1) Bibliography Joaquim, A. F., Ghizoni, E., Tedeschi, H., Hsu, W. K., & Patel, A. A. (2016). Management of degenerative cervical myelopathy – An update. Revista Da Associação Médica Brasileira, 62(9), 886-894. doi:10.1590/1806-9282.62.09.886 2) Purpose of the Article The purpose of this article was to discuss the most important factors involved in the surgical management of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), including the approaches.  3) Brief Description of Procedure and Findings/Results This article summarizes the different imaging approaches as an additional work-up in managing DCM: i) Plain radiography - Initial investigation of DCM is based on simple plain cervical radiographs, including flexion-...