Magnetic Resonance Imaging Patterns in Nontraumatic Pediatric Spinal Cord Myelopathy

The goal of this pictorial review is to illustrate the various spinal cord MR imaging patterns that can be encountered in the child who develops acute noncompressive myelopathy. By recognizing the distinctive abnormal MR imaging patterns caused by various spinal cord pathologies, poliomyelitis-like syndromes can be distinguished from other noncompressive, nontraumatic pathologies, such as autoimmune disorders, demyelinating diseases, metabolic abnormalities, vascular lesions, and neoplasia. In this article, we propose a simple categorization scheme based on the MR imaging pattern of distribution in the spinal cord to facilitate the diagnosis of nontraumatic spinal cord lesions.

Learning Objective: To be able to differentiate various noncompressive pediatric spinal cord pathologies using a simple MR imaging categorization scheme.