Computed tomography in the diagnosis of thoracic disk protrusions with a technical suggestion.

4 cases of thoracic disk protrusion were studied with spinal CT and with either plain X rays of myelography, until now the only tools for a precise diagnosis. In patients with a thoracic compression syndrome and a calcification within the canal CT alone clinches the diagnosis, as it does in cases in which the calcified material is not detectable but the clinical symptoms point to a precise lesion level. In such cases myelography is unnecessary. It should however be done first when neither the clinical symptoms nor the plain X rays indicate the level of the lesion.