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Etiology of Lumbosacral Radiculoplexopathy: Sacral Insufficiency Fracture on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

  • CURRENT CONCEPTS IN SPINAL FUSION / ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
HSS Journal ®

Abstract

Background

Sacral insufficiency fracture (SIF) can cause lumbosacral radiculoplexopathy (LSRP) and is probably under-recognized. Symptoms may include nonspecific lumbar spine or buttock pain that is exacerbated by physical activity and alleviated with rest. The frequency of LSRP secondary to SIF has not been reported.

Questions/Purposes

We aimed to determine the frequency of LSRP associated with SIF using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine.

Methods

We searched a radiology database at our institution using the keywords “sacral insufficiency fracture” and “lumbar spine MRI” for patient records from January 2014 through December 2017. We assessed for the presence of LSRP, reflected by elevated T2-weighted or short tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal intensity and enlargement of the nerve on noncontrast lumbar spine MRI. An incompletely healed vertically oriented SIF was confirmed if there was a persistent bone marrow edema pattern adjacent to the fracture site; we did not include purely transverse SIFs. The final cohort comprised 57 patients (48 female; age range, 14 to 89 years).

Results

Abnormalities of the extraforaminal L5 nerve root or the combined L4 and L5 nerve roots (the lumbosacral trunk) were identified in 19 (33%) of 57 patients, with a total of 23 sites (bilateral involvement in four cases). Of the 23 abnormal nerves, 19 (82.6%) had corresponding, clinically documented radicular symptoms and 16 (69.6%) had no other explanation on MRI for their radicular symptoms other than SIF.

Conclusions

LSRP caused by SIF is an entity all radiologists should be cognizant of, especially in cases of otherwise unexplained radicular symptoms. The diagnosis of SIF can be helpful in cases involving concomitant multilevel lumbar spondylosis and neural foraminal stenosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Imaging, Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 E. 70th St., New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Christian Geannette MD, Susan C. Lee MD & Darryl B. Sneag MD

Authors
  1. Christian Geannette MD
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  2. Susan C. Lee MD
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  3. Darryl B. Sneag MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darryl B. Sneag MD.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human/Animal Rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013.

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Informed consent was waived for all patients included in this study.

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Additional information

Level of Evidence: Level II: Retrospective study

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Geannette, C., Lee, S.C. & Sneag, D.B. Etiology of Lumbosacral Radiculoplexopathy: Sacral Insufficiency Fracture on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. HSS Jrnl 16, 126–129 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09750-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09750-y

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