Magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) is widely used to narrow the differential diagnosis in the preoperative
study of spinal cord tumors. The use of a medium in MRI is preferred to improve
visualization of tumor’s intrinsic characteristics and boundaries, and to
identify reactive changes (such as cysts and dilated veins) in adjacent
tissues. Most times, it is easy to determine whether a lesion arises from the
spinal cord itself or from the IDEM space according to common MRI findings,
however, at other times, this might be difficult. There have been reported
cases of schwannoma located at IDEM space misdiagnosed with IMT.
Thus, radiologists
must discern the characteristic imaging features of IDEMs to distinguish them from IMTs. The presence of vein enlargement is
often a sign in some cases of intradural spinal tumors , most of
which are extramedullary. A perimedullary vein enlargement sign around an
intradural spinal tumor (without dilated veins in the tumor)has not
been reported, which might be an imaging mark to differentiate IDEMTs from IMTs.The
purpose of this study was to determine the added value of the perimedullary
spinal vein enlargement sign on MRI in helping to distinguish IDEMTs from IMTs.
