Infradiaphragmatic spinal tumours demonstrated by transfemoral epidural venography.

During the last few years transfemoral epidural venography has increasingly been used for diagnosing lumbar disc herniation. Occasionally this method may reveal an unexpected malignant tumour with the clinical symptoms of lumbar disc disease. Therefore it is of interest to be acquainted with the venographic signs of malignancy in this area. Moreover transfemoral epidural venography can be of help in the delineation of a tumour in the vertebral canal. If the double-catheter method is used, the anterior epidural venous plexus will, as a rule, be adequately shown up to the level of T10. Occasionally higher thoracic levels also are visualised. The procedure can easily be performed on an out-patient basis and is well tolerated by the patient. The complication rate is very low. The use of ioxaglate (Hexabrix) minimizes the post-injection reactions to the contrast medium.