title: Intraoperative sonography of intramedullary spinal cord tumours.
abstract: Intraoperative spinal sonography was performed 23 times in 20 patients with intramedullary spinal cord tumours, and the sonographic features were examined. Eight cases of astrocytoma were classified into three types: type 1, seen in 3 children, had intramedullary, circular or oval, hyperechogenic multiple tumour shadows; type 2 presented inter-multimyelomere, relatively well-defined single tumour shadows corresponding to grade III and I for two juvenile and aged cases each, respectively; and type 3 appeared ill-defined and diffusely infiltrating. The relationships between these types, the ages of patients and histological grades were considered a potential clue to mechanisms of occurrence and infiltration of astrocytoma. All 7 ependymomas had syrinxes, of three types; central canal was very large, the tumour lying within it like an island; or the tumour was in contact with a cephalocaudal side part of the syrinx; or the tumour had a syrinx or cyst. Sonographic images thus differ according to the tumour, but differential diagnosis is currently limited. Development of sonographic equipment, with upgrading its resolving power are hoped for.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mimatsu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004806:Ependymoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005402:Fistula / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D014463:Ultrasonography