Computed tomographic myelography (CTM) in atlanto-axial rheumatoid arthritis.
Thirty-two patients with severe cervical rheumatoid arthritis were investigated preoperatively with cervical myelography (CeM) and computed tomographic myelography (CTM). The severity of their clinical symptoms correlated excellently with a combination of the deformation of the spinal cord at the atlanto-axial level, the lateral dislocation of the cord at the same level, and the deformation of the cord at some lower cervical level. Obstructing soft-tissue excrescences seemed to have little significance. No correlation was found in this study between the deformation of the cord and the main findings of the plain films: the atlanto-axial subluxation (AAS), the vertical subluxation (VS), or their combination.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001268:Atlanto-Axial Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001284:Atrophy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D004204:Joint Dislocations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009192:Myelography; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed