[Spinal computed tomography. New perspectives in the diagnosis of the spine and spinal cord (author's transl)].

Computed tomography (CT) of the spine and spinal cord is gaining more and more importance as a valuable investigative method in neuroradiology. Performed as a noninvasive procedure, with or without intravenous contrast enhancement, it can be used to diagnose paravertebral soft tissue lesions, constrictive lesions of the bony spinal canal, structure changes of the vertebral column or of individual vertebrae, vascular intraspinal lesions, and intraspinal tumors with abnormally high or abnormally low attenuation values. Performed as an invasive procedure, after intrathecal introduction of metrizamide, spinal CT can in selected cases be used in conjunction with conventional metrizamide myelography as an additional procedure (secondary CT-myelography) or even as initial procedure ("primary" CT-myelography), taking advantage of its unique properties, namely to provide a transverse axial image of the spine and related soft tissue structures and to detect even small differences in density. Further improvement of spinal CT, particularly the routine non-invasive demonstration of the intraspinal soft tissues, is to be expected.