DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i01.071

Pages: 345-353

Various benign and malignant tumors can affect spinal cord and structures around it. They can present with trivial symptoms like backache but can lead to neurological deficits and various disabilities if not diagnosed and treated accordingly. Out of the available imaging modalities, MRI is the commonly used method for diagnosis. Aim of our study was to assess the distribution, features, localization and extent of spinal cord tumors by MRI and to correlate the tissue characterization by MRI with histo-pathology. 114 no of patients diagnosed as having spinal cord tumors by MRI and who underwent surgery were included in the study. The study was conducted in the departments of Radio diagnosis, Neurosurgery, and Pathology at SCBMCH, Cuttack from September 2013 to October 2016. Type of study is retrospective analytical. Out of the 114 patients with spinal cord lesions, 57% were male and 43% were female. Around 8% of the patients were in the pediatric age group and 92% were adults. In the pediatric age group, 33.3% of the cases were males and 66.7% were females. In the adults, 59% were males and 41% were females. Majority of the tumors were seen in the Intradural-Extramedullary compartment accounting for 52.6 % of the cases, followed by extradural tumors (23.7%) and intramedullary tumors (15.8%). Rest tumors were mix compartment tumors. Schwannoma was the commonest spinal cord tumor accounting for 28.9% of the tumors. Other tumors in decreasing order of frequency were meningiomas (15.8%), ependymomas (12.3%), hemangioma (11.4%), neurofibromas (10.5%), metastases (9.6%), astrocytomas (3.5%), hemangioblastoma (2.6%), arachnoid cyst (1.8%), one each (0.9%) of lipoma, PNET, epidermoid cyst, and multiple myeloma. Ependymoma was the commonest intramedullary tumor accounting for 38.9% of the intramedullary tumors. Schwannoma was the commonest intradural-extramedullary tumor accounting for 43.3% of them. Hemangioma was the commonest extradural tumor accounting for 48.1%