Cervical spine musculature still remains a less studied component of the cervical spine anatomical compartments, although it plays a significant role in the mobility of the head and the preservation of cervical spine alignment. The goal of this study was to extract any significant information from the literature regarding the role of cervical spine muscles morphology in the outcome of surgically treated patients for degenerative disc disease (DDD) based on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. Eleven clinical case series were found, from which four were prospective and seven were retrospective. Six studies were concentrated on anterior approaches and five studies on posterior approaches in the cervical spine. In posterior approaches aiming at the preservation of muscles attachments and overall less surgical manipulations, results on cervical lordosis, axial pain and patient's functionality were found superior to traditional laminectomies. The study of cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of deep paraspinal muscles in the cervical spine could add significant information for the spine surgeon such as the prediction of adjacent level disease (ALD), fusion failure, axial pain persistence, postoperative cervical alignment and patient's postoperative functionality. It seems that MRI studies focusing on muscle layers of the cervical spine could add significant information for the spinal surgeon regarding the final surgical outcome in terms of pain and function expres-sion. Larger multicenter clinical studies are a necessity in defining the role of the muscle component of the cervical spine in the surgical treatment of DDD.

This report deals with a case of rhabdomyosarcoma in the upper thoracic spine. It is of particular interest, not only for the rarity of type and location of this tumour, but for its clinical course, which presented fluctuations of neurological status, included an acute demonstration of complete paraplegia followed by full recovery after conservative treatment, and gradual relapsing of neurological deficit, one year later.

In order to study the contribution of the radicular arteries to the blood supply of the spinal cord, we performed experimental occlusion of these arteries in cats. In 43 cats, under thiopental anaesthesia, unilateral, bilateral, single or multiple ligations of dorsal radicular arteries were carried out. The animals were killed at the 1st, 2nd and 7th postoperative day. The spinal cords were removed and preserved in formalin solution for 1 month and then examined, using light microscopy. We conclude that bilateral or multiple ligations are capable of producing ischaemic lesions in the spinal cord, more profound by the seventh postoperative day, while single ligations do not produce such lesions, unless a medullary artery is involved. The ischaemic lesions which were observed were associated with clinical neurological deficits.

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