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KMID : 1189320170110050700
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Asian Spine Journal
2017 Volume.11 No. 5 p.700 ~ p.705
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Incorporation of Whole Spine Screening in Magnetic Resonance Imaging Protocols for Low Back Pain: A Valuable Addition
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Rao Akhilesh
Mishra Atul
Pimpalwar Yayati
Sahdev Ravinder
Yadu Neha
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Abstract
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Study Design: A retrospective review of lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies conducted at the Department of Radiodiagnosis & Imaging of a Tertiary Care Armed Forces Hospital between May 2014 and May 2016.
Purpose: To assess the advantages of incorporating sagittal screening of the whole spine in protocols for conventional lumbar spine MRI for patients presenting with low back pain.
Overview of Literature: Advances in MRI have resulted in faster examinations, particularly for patients with low back pain. The additional detection of incidental abnormalities on MRI helps to improve patient outcomes by providing a swifter definitive diagnosis. Because low back pain is extremely common, any change to the diagnostic and treatment approach has a significant impact on health care resources.
Methods: We documented all additional incidental findings detected on sagittal screenings of the spine that were of clinical significance and would otherwise have been undiagnosed.
Results: A total of 1,837 patients who met our inclusion criteria underwent MRI of the lumbar spine. The mean age of the study population was 45.7 years; 66.8% were men and 33.2% women. Approximately 26.7% of the patients were diagnosed with incidental findings. These included determining the level of indeterminate vertebrae, incidental findings of space-occupying lesions of the cervicothoracic spine, myelomalacic changes, and compression fractures at cervicothoracic levels.
Conclusions: We propose that T2-weighted sagittal screening of the whole spine be included as a routine sequence when imaging the lumbosacral spine for suspected degenerative pathology of the intervertebral discs.
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KEYWORD
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Magnetic resonance imaging, Low back pain, Lumbar spine, Compression fracture, Spinal cord screening
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