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.