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Thirty-six patients with pathology in the area of the craniocervical junction and the cervical spine have been studied with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), using the Inversion Recovery and Spin-Echo technique. The value of MRI for diagnosis and management is compared, in retrospect, to X-ray Computer Tomography and Myelography. The conclusion is that MRI can replace CT and myelography in the clinical evaluation of many patients with pathology of the craniocervical junction and the cervical spine.

The authors describe a case of panmedullary ependymoma presenting with multiple cysts complicated by fatty deposits in the spinal cord from C6 to D2 as demonstrated by CT-scanning. To the authors' best knowledge the combination of these features have not been described previously. The radiological, operative and histological findings are discussed and compared with those of other panmedullary spinal cord tumours such as astrocytomas.

A case history of a patient with a Migrant sensory neuritis of Wartenberg is presented. In this syndrome several isolated cutaneous nerves are affected, apparently due to traction lesions. This benign disease should be differentiated from other, more serious neurological diseases.

The data of 48 patients with a subdural empyema, treated in the period 1946-1980, have been reviewed in order to evaluate factors that influenced the outcome. A delay in diagnosis and surgical treatment, plus a severe disturbance of consciousness at the moment of surgery, all had a negative bearing on the subsequent outcome. The mode of operation also had an influence on the outcome in this series. In those patients with a severely disturbed level of consciousness at the time of surgery, the outcome was more favourable if multiple burr-holes were performed rather than a craniotomy. In patients with a minor disturbance of consciousness, however, this difference was not apparent.

After the introduction of CT-scanning the management of focal cerebral infections has been modified. Based on the data of two patients and on the literature the authors discuss the choice between fully conservative, immediately neurosurgical or delayed neurosurgical treatment. It is the author's opinion that by closely following the infectious process too early neurosurgical intervention can be avoided and thus unnecessary sacrifice of viable neural tissue.

We present two patients with an astrocytoma, involving the whole spinal cord. Operation was performed in both cases: one patient died because of complications after the operation, the condition of the other patient improved greatly. In the literature we could find three other cases of astrocytoma, extending into more than ten segments of the spinal cord. The clinical picture and the differential diagnosis with ependymomas of the same length are discussed.