Since Walter Dandy pointed out the beneficial use of air for roentgenologic visualization of spinal canal in 1919, numerous contrast media have _been proposed to improve their specificity for the diagnosis of intraspinal pathology.
It took nearly thirty pears, however, until Pantopaqne was adopted as a contrast material by University of Rochester group in 1944, to have been rapidly popularized mainly because of its lower viscosity and less toxicity. In addition; its ability to delineate much finer structures, such as root sleeves, and the property that is easily removable by gentle aspiration promoted its acceptability.
Generally, in orthopedic practice, the indication of myelography is rather limited to those instances where 1) clinical diagnosis is in doubt, or 2) other intraspinal lesion is suspected. In other words, myelography is appreciated for clarifying the exact localization of disc lesions and/or to rule out pathologies of other nature, i. e. intraspinal tumor.
In recent years, the authors have performed myelography with same indications as mentioned above. Twelve cases with several confusing manifestations were selected among 87 patients admitted under the impression of H.I. V. D, to Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul 1ational University Hospital during the past 2 years. We are submitting analysis on these cases to correlate myelographic findings ~*ith clinical and subsequent operative findings. With these results the authors believe that myelography is a valuable aid in the diagnosis of lumbar disc lesions and the decisive factor in borderline cases.
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