Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Routine sagittal whole-spine magnetic resonance imaging in finding incidental spine lesions

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the efficacy and feasibility of T2-weighted whole-spine sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening for all patients who undergo MRI of the lumbar spine for any indication.

Methods

A review of 1145 consecutive T2-weighted whole-spine sagittal MRI screening sequences performed for lumbar spine imaging was undertaken for the purposes of documenting the incidence and clinical significance of thoracic and cervical spine incidental findings, as well as to establish correlation between these pathologies and those found in the lumbar spine.

Results

Out of the 1145 patients included in the study, 103 (9%) patients had incidental findings thought to be significant. These findings included cervical spinal stenosis (n = 85), thoracic disc herniation (n = 9), syrinx (n = 5), intradural tumor (n = 2), and signal changes within the spinal cord (n = 2). In follow-up exams, 35 patients had clinically significant findings which included cervical myelopathy (n = 25), thoracic myelopathy (n = 3), syrinx (n = 5) and intradural tumor (n = 2). Among the 172 patients presenting with lumbar spinal stenosis, 42 (24.4%) had such incidental findings, and of those 41 (23.8%) had cervical stenosis with spinal cord compression (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

T2-weighted whole-spine sagittal screening is useful in demonstrating clinically relevant incidental findings in any patients undergoing MRI of the lumbar spine. There is a statistically significant correlation between lumbar spinal stenosis and cervical spinal stenosis with spinal cord compression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schaefer DM, Flanders A, Northrup BE, Doan HT, Osterholm JL (1989) Magnetic resonance imaging of acute cervical spine trauma. Correlation with severity of neurologic injury. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 14:1090–1095

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Flanders AE, Spettell CM, Friedman DP, Marino RJ, Herbison GJ (1999) The relationship between the functional abilities of patients with cervical spinal cord injury and the severity of damage revealed by MR imaging. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 20:926–934

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Yamashita Y, Takahashi M, Matsuno Y et al (1990) Chronic injuries of the spinal cord: assessment with MR imaging. Radiology 175:849–854

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kanna RM, Kamal Y, Mahesh A, Venugopal P, Shetty AP, Rajasekaran S (2017) The impact of routine whole spine MRI screening in the evaluation of spinal degenerative diseases. Eur Spine J 26:1993–1998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lian J, Levine N, Cho W (2018) A review of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae and associated vertebral numeration. Eur Spine J 27:995–1004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Althoff CE, Appel H, Rudwaleit M, Sieper J, Eshed I, Hermann KG (2007) Whole-body MRI as a new screening tool for detecting axial and peripheral manifestations of spondyloarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 66:983–985

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Green RA, Saifuddin A (2004) A Whole spine MRI in the assessment of acute vertebral body trauma. Skeletal Radiol 33:129–135

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kaila R, Malhi AM, Mahmood B, Saifuddin A (2007) The incidence of multiple level noncontiguous vertebral tuberculosis detected using whole spine MRI. J Spinal Disord Tech 20:78–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Schmitz A, Kandyba J, Koenig R, Jaeger UE, Gieseke J, Schmitt O (2001) A new method of MR total spine imaging for showing the brace effect in scoliosis. J Orthop Sci 6:316–319

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Nakanishi K, Kobayashi M, Nakaguchi K, Kyakuno M, Hashimoto N, Onishi H et al (2007) Whole-body MRI for detecting metastatic bone tumor: diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted images. Magn Reson Med Sci 6:147–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Steinborn MM, Heuck AF, Tiling R, Bruegel M, Gauger L, Reiser MF (1999) Whole-body bone marrow MRI in patients with metastatic disease to the skeletal system. J Comput Assist Tomogr 23:123–129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Han IH, Suh SH, Kuh SU, Chin DK, Kim KS (2010) Types and prevalence of coexisting spine lesions on whole spine sagittal MR images in surgical degenerative spinal diseases. Yonsei Med J 51(3):414–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Nagata K, Yoshimura N, Muraki S, Hashizume H, Ishimoto Y, Yamada H, Takiguchi N, Nakagawa Y, Oka H, Kawaguchi H, Nakamura K, Akune T, Yoshida M (2012) Prevalence of cervical cord compression and its association with physical performance in a population-based cohort in Japan: the Wakayama Spine Study. Spine 37:1892–1898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wagner SC, Morrison WB, Carrino JA, Schweitzer ME, Nothnagel H (2002) Picture archiving and communication system: effect on reporting of incidental findings. Radiology 225:500–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Park HJ, Jeon YH, Rho MH, Lee EJ, Park NH, Park SI, Jo JH (2011) Incidental findings of the lumbar spine at MRI during herniated intervertebral disk disease evaluation. AJR Am J Roentgenol 196:1151–1155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hilton B, Tempest-Mitchell J, Davies B, Kotter M (2018) Assessment of degenerative cervical myelopathy differs between specialists and may influence time to diagnosis and clinical outcomes. PLoS ONE 17:13

    Google Scholar 

  17. Milligan J, Ryan K, Fehlings M, Bauman C (2019) Degenerative cervical myelopathy: diagnosis and management in primary care. Can Fam Physician 65:619–624

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Adamova B, Bednarik J, Andrasinova T, Kovalova I, Kopacik R, Jabornik M, Kerkovsky M, Jakubcova B, Jarkovsky J (2015) Does lumbar spinal stenosis increase the risk of spondylotic cervical spinal cord compression? Eur Spine J 24:2946–2953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lee SH, Kim KT, Suk KS, Lee JH, Shin JH, So DH, Kwack YH (2010) Asymptomatic cervical cord compression in lumbar spinal stenosis patients: a whole spine magnetic resonance imaging study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 35:2057–2063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bhandutia A, Brown L, Nash A, Bussey I, Shasti M, Koh E, Banagan K, Ludwig S, Gelb D (2019) Delayed diagnosis of tandem spinal stenosis: a retrospective institutional review. Int J Spine Surg 13:283–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Boden SD, McCowin PR, Davis DO, Dina TS, Mark AS, Wiesel S (1990) Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the cervical spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation. J Bone Joint Surg Am 72:1178–1184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funding was received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery and the Spine Unit, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center, 70300, Zerifin, Israel

    Yossi Smorgick, Yigal Mirovsky & Yoram Anekstein

  2. Department of Radiology, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel

    Tal Granek, Oded Rabau & Sigal Tal

  3. Affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Yossi Smorgick, Tal Granek, Yigal Mirovsky, Oded Rabau, Yoram Anekstein & Sigal Tal

Authors
  1. Yossi Smorgick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tal Granek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yigal Mirovsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Oded Rabau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yoram Anekstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sigal Tal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by YS, ST and TG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YS and TG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yossi Smorgick.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Due to the retrospective nature of the study, a waiver from informed consent was given by the IRB.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smorgick, Y., Granek, T., Mirovsky, Y. et al. Routine sagittal whole-spine magnetic resonance imaging in finding incidental spine lesions. Magn Reson Mater Phy 34, 421–426 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-020-00882-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-020-00882-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation