gms | German Medical Science

68th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
7th Joint Meeting with the British Neurosurgical Society (SBNS)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

14 - 17 May 2017, Magdeburg

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Diagnostic yield of cervical spine MRI scans – an insight into the incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy

Meeting Abstract

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  • Bryn Hilton - University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Academic Neurosurgery Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Benjamin Davies - University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Academic Neurosurgery Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Mark Kotter - University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Academic Neurosurgery Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Society of British Neurological Surgeons. 68. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), 7. Joint Meeting mit der Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS). Magdeburg, 14.-17.05.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. DocMi.15.03

doi: 10.3205/17dgnc464, urn:nbn:de:0183-17dgnc4641

Published: June 9, 2017

© 2017 Hilton et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Objective: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is spinal cord compression due to degenerative changes in the surrounding spine. The epidemiology of DCM is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to estimate its incidence by considering 3 months of MRI scans at a tertiary neurosciences centre.

Methods: A retrospective cohort of 281 patients receiving a cervical spine MRI scan in a 3 month period at a tertiary neurosciences centre. All cervical spine MRI scans were examined for the clinical indication for the scan and the pathology reported.

Results: Neural compression (39%) and trauma (27%) were the predominant indication for cervical MRI imaging. Other indications included: treatment planning (11%), inflammation (10%), malignancy (6%), other (7%). Number of scans triggered by symptom: upper limb paraesthesia/weakness (25%), neck pain (21%), numb hands (7%), lower limb paraesthesia/weakness (7%). DCM and inflammatory disease triggered 23 and 19 MRI scans respectively. New DCM findings were 2.6 times more common than new onset inflammatory lesions.

Conclusion: Suspected neural compression was the largest cause for cervical MRI investigation. New onset DCM was more common than new onset inflammatory lesions.