The persistent central canal

¹Neuroradiology Department Head and Neck Hospital of Rabat, Rabat, Morocco

^&Corresponding author
Abdel Ilah Drissi Maniani, Neuroradiology Department Head and Neck Hospital of Rabat, Rabat, Morocco

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Our case is about a 30-year-old woman who consults for neck pain, a cervical MRI with and without contrast was performed who objectified a thin centro-medullary cavity measuring 2 mm located at the junction of the anterior third and the posterior two thirds (A), extends from C6 to D1 (B), who appears as high intense on T2-weighted without an enhancement on a post-contrast characteristic of a persistent central canal (PCC). The PCC is defined as a persistence of a focal distension of the ependymal canal, generally discovered during a radiological exploration presents 1 to 2% of cases of exploration of the spinal cord, often of thoracic location. The clinic is poor, sometimes an atypical pain symptomatology with a generally normal neurological examination. Medullary MRI is a reference examination which shows a filiform or fusiform centromedullary cavity appears as high intense on T2-weighted less than 3 mm in diameter located at the junction between the anterior third and the posterior two thirds of the antero-posterior diameter of the spinal cord, The post injection sequences are necessary to eliminate the differential diagnosis, in particular tumor-related syringomyelia.

Figure 1: cervical medullary MRI in axial (A) and sagittal (B) section T2 showing a thin centro-medullary cavity filiform, measuring 2 mm located at the junction of the anterior third and the posterior two thirds (A), extends from C6 to D1 (B), who appears as high intense on T2-weighted (red arrow)