Osteoid osteoma of the spine: radiological aspects and value of arteriography. Four cases.

The authors present four cases of osteoid osteoma of the spine and review the usual clinical and paraclinical data leading to its diagnosis. The value of radionuclide bone scanning is emphasized: it supersedes the often disappointing radio-tomography and guides computerized tomography which, with modern scanners, virtually always demonstrates the lesion and locates it with accuracy. In the author's experience, spinal and spinal cord arteriography plays an important role: it identifies the radiculospinal vessels preoperatively and provides additional aetiological arguments based on the usual hypervascularity of osteoid osteomas and on the pain induced by injection of the feeding vessels. Data from the literature concerning the vascularization of the nidus suggest that treatment by embolization alone can be envisaged but must be demonstrated.