[Computerized tomography in the diagnosis of degenerative-dystrophic lesions of the spine and herniated intervertebral disk]

Computed tomography (CT) examination was performed in 711 patients with various degenerative and dystrophic processes in the spine. The most numerous group (485 patients) included those with a posterior discal hernia associated in 54.3% of cases with other degenerative and dystrophic alterations in the vertebral column. The hernias were paramedial in 336 and central in 147 patients. In 98.4% of cases the lumbosacral portion was involved. The CT diagnosis was verified at surgery in 103 patients (21.3%) providing evidence for setting up the principal CT criteria of the hernia: deformity of the disk posterior margin in the form of its local prolapse, deformity of the epidural fat, presence of a soft tissue component, dislocation and deformity of the dural sac. It is established that CT is a safe and highly informative diagnostic procedure in discal hernias.