NEURAL ARCH TUBERCULOSIS - RADIOLOGICAL FEATURES AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH SURGICAL FINDINGS

Radiological features of 17 cases of neural arch tuberculosis (NAT), t reated surgically by the authors, are reviewed and correlated with the operative and histopathological findings. The diagnostic accuracy of different imaging modalities in the evaluation of this rare, atypical form of spinal tuberculosis was found to be very low. Thus, the initia l diagnosis was in error in 15 out of 17 of our cases. Recognition of the radiological diagnostic features of NAT is important, nor only bec ause they may mimic primary or metastatic spinal neoplasms, but also b ecause of the surgical implications. Computed tomograph; (CT) and magn etic resonance imaging (MRI) features correlated most closely with the surgical findings, whereas plain spinal radiographs and myelograms we re found to be non-specific and non-diagnostic.