More articles from SPINE IMAGING AND SPINE IMAGE-GUIDED INTERVENTIONS
- Cough-Associated Changes in CSF Flow in Chiari I Malformation Evaluated by Real-Time MRI
Eight symptomatic patients with Chiari I malformation and 6 healthy participants were studied by using MR pencil beam imaging with a temporal resolution of 50 ms. Patients and healthy participants were scanned in real-time during resting, coughing, and postcoughing periods. CSF flow waveform amplitude, CSF stroke volume, and CSF flow rate were compared between the patients and the control population. Real-time MR imaging noninvasively showed a transient decrease in CSF flow across the foramen magnum after coughing in symptomatic patients with Chiari I malformation.
- Imaging Psoas Sign in Lumbar Spinal Infections: Evaluation of Diagnostic Accuracy and Comparison with Established Imaging Characteristics
In this retrospective case-control study, the authors evaluated lumbar spine MR imagings during a 30-month period that were requested for the evaluation of discitis-osteomyelitis. Fifty age-matched control patients were compared with 51 biopsy-proved or clinically diagnosed patients with discitis-osteomyelitis. The investigators assessed the randomly organized MR imaging examinations for abnormalities of the psoas musculature, vertebral bodies, discs, and epidural space. Psoas T2 hyperintensity demonstrated high sensitivity (92%), specificity (92%), and positive likelihood ratio (11.5). They conclude that psoas T2 hyperintensity, the imaging psoas sign, is highly correlated with discitis-osteomyelitis.