Traumatic dural tears: CT diagnosis using metrizamide.

Computed tomography of the spine using intrathecal metrizamide was performed on six patients with spinal trauma. Dural tears with contrast material escaping outside the subarachnoid space were documented in five cases. In one case, the thecal laceration had healed and the contrast material was confined in a post-traumatic meningocele. The characteristics of dural tears are demonstrable by metrizamide computed tomography, either in conjunction with myelography or as a separate procedure. Neurological deficits following spinal trauma may be aggravated by dural tears with entrapment of the spinal nerve roots.