ABC’s
- Alignment (Lodotic, Kyphotic)
- Bone
- Cartilage (disc space)
- Soft Tissue
What are some features you can look for to see if spine is aligned in the AP?
- Spinous Process
- Uncinate Process (cervical)
Swimmer’s View
Cervicothoracic Junction
-gets numeral head out of way
CT Scan Advantages
- Good assessment of bony anatomy
- Good assessment of fusion
- Able to see the extent of decompression from prior surgery
- Able to see assessment of fracture extent and location of fragments
CT Scan Disadvantages
- Can’t determine age of fracture
- Limited visualization of edema or soft tissues
CT Views in CT Scan
- Coronal
- Sagittal
- Axial
Right and left orientation are flipped around on the _______ view of ______ images.
- Axial
- Saggittal
When viewing images, what questions should you be asking yourself?
- Type (x-ray, CT, MRI, Discography, Bone Scan)
- View (AP, Lateral, Oblique, Sagittal, Axial)
- Anatomy (Lumbar, Cervical, etc)
- Pathology
How do you know if you are midline in the sagittal view?
You can clearly see the spinal canal/void and the spinous processes
Disadvantages of MRI
- Metal Implants (lack of compatibility with metal implants)
- Very Loud
- Very Costly
Advantages of MRI
- Soft tissue visualization
- Ability to indicate edema
- ability to generate various views for evaluation of disc, neurovascular structures, ligamentous tissues, etc
- Ability to utilize various modalities to isolate issue types
T1 vs T2 (Saggital Images)
- In T2 images, h2o/water will be bright (in canal space, etc)
- In T1 images, fluid in canal space is dark
Cauda Equina appears in axial images at the level of
L1, L2
Dexa Scan measures?
Osteoporotic Bone
Lateral X-Ray shows
- Saggittal Alignment
- Disc Space
- Vertebral Bodies/Endplates
- Posterior Elements
- Intervertebral Foreamen
CT Myelogram
Die injected into CSF & shows up bright white on image to show neural structures
