A report is presented on two patients who received surgery on a disc prolapse between the lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5 as treatment for compression of the fifth lumbar root, but in whom the clinically relevant disc prolapse was located higher (lumbar vertebrae 1/2 or thoracic vertebra 12/lumbar vertebra 1). Magnetic resonance tomography made a major contribution to the later diagnosis of the high disc prolapses. Besides precise localization of the lesion, MRT made it easier to understand why such a high disc prolapse can cause a compression syndrome of the fifth lumbar root.

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[Imaging the spinal cord in scoliosis in magnetic resonance tomography using the 3D Fourier procedure].

Recent progress in MR-imaging allows to acquire an entire volume using 3D-Fourier-processing, resulting in an isotope spatial resolution with a voxel-size of about one cubic millimeter. Acquisition time for a matrix of 256 x 256 x 128 amounts to less than 15 minutes, if gradient-echo-sequences are applied (FLASH/FISP). The information contained in such a huge number of data is retrieved with the aid of a special rapid data processing system. Using 3D-Fourier analyses, Spinal cord is imaged very clearly even in cases of extreme kyphoscoliosis. The cord is demonstrated by arbitrary, even curved one Millimeter slices. In addition to that the acquisition of data takes only 15 minutes, which is definitely more rapid than 2D-Fourier. Details can be figured out in a very high precision. This allows to distinguish details such as vessels, small masses and nerve roots. Furthermore the signal-to-noise-ratio of 3D-sequences is higher than in multi-slice-technique. A decisive advantage is the possibility to compute curved planes in post processing of the 3D-data-sets.

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