Evaluation of MR in spinal dysraphism with lipoma: comparison with metrizamide computed tomography.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and metrizamide computed tomography (CT) were performed on three patients with spinal dysraphism with lipoma. Sagittal MR images were superior to metrizamide CT reformatted sagittal images in demonstrating anatomic relationships of the spinal cord, filum terminale and lipoma. In the axial plane, CT proved superior to MR. In all cases, the T1 weighted images with exceptional spatial resolution and excellent fat discrimination were more helpful than T2 weighted images. Although both MR and CT are useful in the initial evaluation of these disorders, subsequent evaluation employing only MR is probably adequate. Promising developments in surface coil imaging may eventually replace CT.