Two cases of syringomyelia diagnosed by MRI

Two case (a 43-year-old woman and a 17year-old man) of syringomyelia were reported. The female patient had numberness of right upper and lower extrimities as subjective sympotoms, and the neurological examination reveald only hyperreflexia on the right side. MRI disclosed syrinc from C_2 to C_7. The male patient complained or right hemi-hypohidrosis of 4 years' duatation. Neurologically, he showed right Horner's sign, paresis of the right soft palate and vocal cord, right pryamidal sign, dissociated sensory disturbance on the right face, left trunk and limbls in addition right hemi-hypohidrosis. Examination of MRI and metrizamide CT myelography demonstrated Arnold-Chiarimalformation (type I) and syringomelia from C_2 to C_<10>. Clinical features did not necessaryily correspond to the rdiological lesions in both cases. These suggest that it is difficult to make a diagnosis of syringomyelia without an aid of radiological examinations, such as MRI or metricamide CT myelograpy.