Abstract

Objectives: This article aimed to evaluate the changes of magnetic resonance imaging in cervical canal stenosis and the concordance between clinical characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging results of cervical canal stenosis. Materials and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional studies of 55 consecutive patients with cervical canal stenosis on magnetic resonance imaging in Radiology department of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital and Hue Central Hospital. Results: The mean age of the patients was 49.6 ± 11.2, the male:female ratio is 1.6:1. Age group 40-60 was highest ratio (67.3%). The cervical spine pain was the most common symptom of cervical canal stenosis. Abnormal reflexes of upper limb tendons were one of the more common symptoms (72.7%). The combined presentation of all three syndromes: cervical spine pain, cervical root compression, and cervical cord compression that were 54.5%. The cervical herniated disc (92.7%) is the most common cause of acquired cervical spinal stenosis. According to the Kang classification in 2011, grade 1 stenosis is 50.9%, grade 2 stenosis is 36.4% and grade 3 stenosis 12.7%. Patients with Kang’s grade 1 mostly present clinical characteristics of grade 0 myelopathy (66.7%). On the other hand, half of those with grade 2 stenosis had Nurick’s Grade 1, and all with grade 3 stenosis had Nurick’s Grade ≥ 2. Conclusion: The concordance between the cervical canal stenosis by Kang grading system and clinical symptoms by Nurick-score were more than average with Kappa = 0.58.