Imaging in spinal injuries

MRI is the diagnostic method of choice in patients with a suspicion of spinal cord injuries. And in fact, this is one of the rare emergency indications for MR in general. Nowadays it cannot be justified anymore to follow the older step-by-step diagnostic work-up starting with plain radiographs and finally ending with MR. Patients with a neurological problem after a relevant trauma related to the spine just need a MR scan. Although the presence of spinal cord intramedullary lesions detected at MRI have prognostic implications for the patients, surgical treatment usually is provided in the acute setting only for e…