with poor quality of early scans, the potential of MR in the evaluation of suspected neoplasms of the cord was recognized. Today, MR is considered the procedure of choice for the work-up of all spinal tumors. Spinal tumors often are categorized as extradural, intradural (extramedullary, intramedullary), in the intramedullary space, primary tumors are far more common than secondary tumors or metastases. Metastases to the cord itself are comparatively unusual. The common intramedullary tumor is ependymoma. Astrocytoma is common in children [3]. The role of MRI is to distinguish compressive from non-compressive myelopathy. Once compressive lesions have been excluded, non-compressive causes of acute Myelopathy that are intrinsic to the cord are considered primarily vascular, inflammatory, and infectious etiologies. General imaging hallmarks of an extradural mass lesion are focal displacement of the thecal sac and its contents away from the mass. MR scans clearly show the dura draped over the mass. In some cases, a crescent of displaced epidural fat can be seen capping the lesion [4]. Two objectives exist in the MR evaluation of spinal tumors in the epidural space. The detection of vertebral body lesions, even if there is no suspicion of epidural impingement and the delineation of possible thecal sac impingement. With these, a study was conducted to evaluate various causes of compressive myelopathy and also MR characterization of spinal cord compressive lesions.

Setting: The study was conducted in the department of radiodiagnosis, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry.

Duration and type of the study: The study was conducted from December 2014 to August 2016. It was a hospital-based cross-sectional study.

Study method: Random sampling was considered in this study.

Inclusion criteria: individuals of both gender, all age groups with compressive myelopathy were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria: Individuals with non-compressive myelopathy, degenerative disc herniation, and those who didn’t submit the informed consent were not considered.

Study population: All patients referred to the department of radiology with symptoms of

TB was diagnosed to be highest (43.3%; 13) followed by spinal injury (23.3%; 7) and secondary neoplasm (10%; 3). Whereas, out of 7 (23.3%) intradural participants, primary neoplasms were diagnosed in 5 (16.6%) participants and secondary neoplasms in 2 (6.6%) members (Table 2). In this study, age-wise, 2 (6.6%) participant was included in 13 – 23 years group, 7 (23.3%) participants were included in 23 – 33 years group, 6 (20%) participants were included in 33 – 43 years group, 7 (23.3%) participants were included in 43 – 53 years group, 5 (16.6%) participants were included in 53 – 63 years group and 3 (10%) participants were included in > 63 years group; statistically there was no significant difference (P>0.05; Table 3). Gender wise, 56.6% (17) were male participants and 43.3% (13) were female participants; statistically, there was no significant difference (Table 4).

Table 1: Causes of compressive myelopathy among the study participants.

Table 2: Cause for myelopathy according to various compartments among the study participants; n (%)

Table 3: Age-wise MR diagnostic results of the study participants; n (%)

respectively. Mona s et al. reported that in TB spondylitis there was the loss of cortical definition of affected vertebrae [9]. On T2WI an indiscriminate increase in signal intensity is noted from vertebrae, soft tissues, and disks. T1W images usually show the decreased signal from the affected vertebral marrow. Posterior elements may be involved. Out of 30 cases of compressive myelopathy, 7 cases were due to spinal trauma. In a study conducted by Kulkarni et al. most common mode of injury to the spinal cord was a vehicular accident and the least cause was the fall [10]. A similar finding of the mode of injury was found in the present study conducted. The age of the patient in the current study ranged from 12-70 years and 4 were males and 3 were females. This was in comparison to the study conducted by Yamashita et al [11].

In the present study, the level of injuries among the 7 patients was 3 thoracic, 2 cervical, and lumbar 2. This is comparable to the study conducted by Kerslake et al [12]. The cord signal intensity has the prognostic implication where patients with cord edema recovered completely / partially. This has also been shown by studies done by Flanders et al [13]. In the present study, the common site of metastases was thoracic. This is in comparison to the study done by Livingston et al [14]. The most common primary tumors with metastases to the spine and extradural space were lung, breast, and lymphoma, prostrate. In this report, T1WI, T2WI, and STIR sequence were used and post-contrast to image spinal metastases. Smoker WRK et al. stated that metastatic lesions are often destructive and lytic but can be sclerotic, especially in prostate cancer [15]. MRI is extremely sensitive to the detection of metastasis in the vertebral bodies or extradural space. In the present study 2 cases of meningioma occurred at 30-40 years. This is in comparison to a study done by G.lacob who showed that meningiomas are common in the age group of 34-82 years [16]. Meningiomas were the second most common intradural tumors. This is in comparison to a study made by Gezen F et al., who showed that meningiomas are the second most common intradural tumors and they are common in intradural extramedullary compartment [17]. Gottfried et al. stated that Meningiomas have a significant predilection for females arising mainly in the thoracic region [18]. In this study, 1 case of astrocytoma was included, 24-year male patient. This is in comparison to a study made by Koeller K et al. who showed that astrocytomas are common in males and the mean age is at 29 years [19].