Abstract: Objective To analyze the MRI features of 193 patients with spinal tuberculosis，and to investigate the role of MRI in spinal tuberculosis． Methods One hundred and ninety-three patients diagnosed spinal tuberculosis by histopathology or bacteriology examination were admitted to Beijing Chest Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from September 2009 to May 2013 （male:113,female:80;age:5-87 years old,average age(47±15.1)years old）. The following parameters were assessed by MRI: the presence of vertebral body involvement， discs involvement，paravertebral abscess and displacement of the dural sac and spinal cord． Results Accor-ding to MRI images,a total of 525 vertebrae involvement were involved in the 193 patients，lumbar vertebrae involved alone(49.2%,95/193)was the most common,followed by the thoracic vertebrae involved alone（28.0%,54/193）, thoracolumbar vertebrae and lumbosacral vertebrae involved were seen in 13 cases each(6.7%，13/193;6.7%，13/193）,cervical vertebrae involved in 8 cases（4.1%，8/193）and cervico thoracic vertebrae was involved in 4 cases（2.1%，4/193）;the range of lesion vertebrae was from 1 to 9, 2 vertebrae involved was seen in 114 cases(59.1%). Analysis of MRI findings in 189 cases(97.9%,189/193) showed vertebral body deformation，and disc destruction was shown in 172 cases(89.1%,172/193) paravertebral abscess was noted in 182 cases(94.3%,182/193)． Dural sac and spinal cord compression were present in 138 cases(71.5%,138/193)，and 7 cases(3.6%,7/193)showed high signal intensity in the spinal cord on T2WI． Conclusion MRI images could detect several features of spinal tuberculosis including destruction of vertebrae，signal changes of intervertebral disc and the scope of paravertebral abscess．Meanwhile，it can show the compression of dural sac and displacement of spinal cord．It is of important value in diagnosis and treatment of spinal tuberculosis．

Key words: Tuberculosis, spinal/radiography, Magnetic resonance imaging