Radiation exposure in high resolution computed tomography of the spine

From all the available radiodiagnostic procedures for diagnosing spinal disorders (conventional tomography, myelography, CT), high-resolution, thin-slice computer tomography presents the highest radiation exposure as represented by the somatic dose index. It allows, however, the retrospective computer reformatting of axial slices into secondary slices of any projection desires. To obtain this extra information with conventional tomography would require further exposures in the desired projections and/or thinner slices. But there is a great amount of important diagnostic information that plays a decisive role in the choice of the form of therapy and the preoperative planning of surgical which cannot be obtained by conventional radiological procedures. (orig.)