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Annotated AP lumbar spine radiograph. (A) Vertebral body, (B) spinous process, (C) intervertebral space, (D) example of colonic gas, (E) example of fecal material, and (F) left 12th rib.
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When patients present with symptoms associated with lumbar spine pathology, often a series of diagnostic examinations of escalating sophistication are utilized. To obtain a diagnosis, the initial study is usually done on lumbar spine radiographs, which demonstrate gross bony pathologies, spinal alignment, and bone density. Frequently, additional hi...
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... image reconstructions performed with a lumbar spine CT examination are in the sagittal orienta- tion. Figure 10 is a sagittal CT reconstruction. Note that the image looks similar to the traditional lateral lumbar radiograph in Figure 3. ...
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... that the image looks similar to the traditional lateral lumbar radiograph in Figure 3. The white box in Figure 10 sur- rounds a fractured vertebra as demonstrated by the lack of a smooth superior surface and the fracture line from the superior aspect to the inferior aspect of the body. ...
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... resonance imaging demonstrates spi- nal alignment, disk height and hydration, vertebral body configuration, intervertebral disk abnormalities, spinal canal size, nerves, and postsurgical changes. Figure 11 is a sagittal MRI image showing normal anatomy. A common abnormality demonstrated by MRI in the lumbar spine re- gion is herniated intervertebral disk (dark bulges as indi- cated by white arrows in Figure 12). ...
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... 11 is a sagittal MRI image showing normal anatomy. A common abnormality demonstrated by MRI in the lumbar spine re- gion is herniated intervertebral disk (dark bulges as indi- cated by white arrows in Figure 12). A fracture of an osteo- penic L3 vertebral body with the displacement of bone into the spinal canal is shown in Figure 13. ...
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... common abnormality demonstrated by MRI in the lumbar spine re- gion is herniated intervertebral disk (dark bulges as indi- cated by white arrows in Figure 12). A fracture of an osteo- penic L3 vertebral body with the displacement of bone into the spinal canal is shown in Figure 13. The white arrow in- dicates the canal impingement and the black arrows point to the fracture line of the body. ...
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Simple Summary
Imaging methods are an essential component in the diagnosis of spinal disorders. Plain and contrast radiographs are widely used in small animal clinical practice; however, the increasing availability of sophisticated imaging methods such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is improving the approach to patient...
Aim
To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of intraoperative myelography in determining adequacy of indirect spinal canal decompression during transpsoas lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF).
Methods
Seven patients diagnosed with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) were prospectively included to this study. All patients underwen...
Background: Distinguishing between the spinal cord and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) non-invasively on CT is challenging due to their similar mass densities. We hypothesize that patch-based machine learning applied to dual-energy CT can accurately distinguish CSF from neural or other tissues based on the center voxel and neighboring voxels. Methods: 88...
Study Design: A retrospective study at a single academic institution.Purpose: This study aimed to identify imaging risk factors for stenosis in extended neck positions undetectable in preoperative neutral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and improving decompression strategies for cervical spine disorders.Overview of Literature: Cervical disorders a...
Cross-sectional studies of the lumbar spinal canal were performed by computerised tomography in asymptomatic subjects and in patients with myelographic and clinical findings suggestive of lumbar stenosis. In most cases stenosis was found to be developmental or combined in nature. Computerised tomography is a useful adjunct to myelography in the eva...
Citations
Introduction:
Lumbar spine radiography is considered as having a high radiation dose compared to other planar radiography examinations. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of replacing an antiscatter grid with an air gap technique to achieve dose reduction for lateral lumbar spine radiography while maintaining image quality on a direct digital radiography (DDR) system.
Methods:
In phase 1, an experimental study using an anthropomorphic phantom identified the optimal airgap technique. In phase 2, lateral projections of the lumbar spine were performed on 50 patients randomly assigned equally into a control group (using the antiscatter grid) and an experimental group (using the airgap technique). The dose area product (DAP) was recorded, keeping other variables constant. Image quality evaluation was performed by 5 radiologists performing Absolute Visual Grading Analysis (VGA) using an image quality score tool, with resultant scores analysed using Visual Grading Characteristics (VGC).
Results:
A 10 cm airgap in conjunction with a source to image distance (SID) of 121 cm was found as the optimal airgap technique. The clinical application of this technique resulted in a statistically significant (p < 0.05) reduction in DAP of 72%. Image quality scores were higher for the antiscatter grid but variation between the two techniques was not significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusion:
Replacing the antiscatter grid with an airgap technique in lateral lumbar spine digital radiography, provides a significant dose reduction whilst still maintaining diagnostic image quality.
Implications for practice:
The airgap technique is a simple and easy technique to implement and radiographers should find no difficulties in applying it, as It involves no additional cost and no additional equipment.
Lumbar disk herniation, degenerative disk disease, and spondylolysis are the most prevalent lumbar conditions that result in missed playing time. Lumbar disk herniation has a good prognosis. After recovery from injury, professional athletes return to play 82% of the time. Surgical management of lumbar disk herniation has been shown to be a viable option in athletes in whom nonsurgical measures have failed. Degenerative disk disease is predominately genetic but may be accelerated in athletes secondary to increased physiologic loading. Nonsurgical management is the standard of care for lumbar degenerative disk disease in the elite athlete. Spondylolysis is more common in adolescent athletes with back pain than in adult athletes. Nonsurgical management of spondylolysis is typically successful. However, if surgery is required, fusion or direct pars repair can allow the patient to return to sports.
Lumbar disk degeneration (LDD) is a common musculoskeletal condition. Genetic risk factors have been suggested to play a major role in its cause. This article reviews the main research strategies that have been used to study the genetics of LDD, and the genes that thus far have been identified to influence susceptibility to LDD. With the rapid progress in genomic technologies, further advances in the genetics of LDD are expected in the next few years.
The prevalence of spinal pathologies in sub-saharan Africa has received little attention so far. The aim of the survey was to investigate and compare the prevalence pattern of spinal lesions in two different populations of Tanzania, one coming from the urban and semi-urban catchment area of Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam and the other coming from the rural catchment area of Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Mbulu, northern Tanzania. At the Aga Khan Hospital a total number of 1163 patients were included in the survey. In 50 cases (4.3%) no radiological findings were available and 150 patients (12.9%) showed no pathological abnormality. 90.4% (n = 1051) of screened population were classified in the category of extradural-extramedullary pathologies. Intradural-extramedullary lesions were observed in only three cases (0.3%). Intramedullary pathologies accounted for 2.1% (n = 24). Mean age of the screened population was 46.6 years, male-female ratio 1.08:1. At the Haydom Lutheran Hospital 105 cases were included into the study. Twenty-six patients (24.8%) showed no pathological abnormalities. Extradural-extramedullary pathologies occurred in 72.4% (n = 76) of overall cases. However, intradural-extramedullary pathologies were not seen in Haydom. Intramedullary pathologies were diagnosed in two patients (1.9%). Mean age was with 39.8 years clearly younger compared to urban areas, male-female ratio being 1.21:1, only non-significantly higher than in the Aga Khan Hospital's population. Beside this, one of the main goals of this study was to assess the frequency of infections to the spinal cord and vertebral column in rural and urban Tanzania. Surprisingly there were only few radiological findings at the Aga Khan Hospital, which suggested diagnoses consistent with tropical diseases, a striking difference from rural Haydom Lutheran Hospital, where nearly 30% of all patients showed changes on radiograph consistent with infections/infestations.
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu analysieren, welchen Stellenwert die Myelographie und die Myelo-CT im Vergleich zur MRT bei degenerativen Erkrankungen der lumbosakralen Wirbelsäule heutzutage noch einnehmen. Es erfolgt eine retrospektive Untersuchung bei 124 Patienten, bei denen in den Jahren 2002 und 2003 eine MRT der Lendenwirbelsäule sowie eine lumbale Myelographie mit Post-Myelo-CT durchgeführt wurden. Im Hinblick auf die zu bevorzugende Bildgebung zur Diagnosesicherung und Entscheidung über den weiteren Therapieweg bei lumbosakralen Wirbelsäulenerkrankungen zeigt sich, dass die MRT in den meisten Fällen bei diesen Fragestellungen ausreichend ist und somit die primäre Bildgebung sein sollte. Die Myelographie in Kombination mit einer Post-Myelo-CT bringt jedoch bei der lumbalen Instabilität, in denen die MRT keine ausreichenden Ergebnisse in Korrelation zu den klinischen Beschwerden liefert, einen weiteren Befundgewinn und sollte in diesen Fällen auch heutzutage noch angewandt werden.
