Injury patterns of the spine following blunt trauma: A per-segment analysis of spinal structures and their detection rates in CT and MRI

Abstract

Rationale and objectives: To provide a detailed analysis of injury patterns of the spine following blunt trauma and establish the role of supplementary MRI by evaluating discrepancies in the detection rates of damaged structures in CT and MRI.

Method: 216 patients with blunt trauma to the spine who underwent CT followed by supplementary MRI were included in this study. Two board-certified radiologists blinded to clinical symptoms and injury mechanisms independently interpreted all acquired CT and MRI images. The interpretation was performed using a dedicated catalogue of typical findings associated with spinal trauma and assessed for spinal stability using the AO classification systems.

Results: Lesions to structures associated with spinal instability were present in 31.0% in the cervical spine, 12.3% in the thoracic spine, and 29.9% in the lumbar spine. In all spinal segments, MRI provided additional information regarding potentially unstable injuries. Novel information derived from supplementary MRI changed clinical management in 3.6% of patients with injury to the cervical spine. No change in clinical management resulted from novel information on the thoracolumbar spine. Patients with injuries to the vertebral body, intervertebral disc, or spinous process were significantly more likely to benefit from supplementary MRI.

Conclusion: In patients that sustained blunt spinal trauma, supplementary MRI of the cervical spine should routinely be performed to detect injuries that require surgical treatment, whereas CT is the superior imaging modality for the detection of unstable injuries in the thoracolumbar spine.

Keywords: Computed tomography imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Nonpenetrating; Spinal injuries; Vertebral body; Wounds.

Fig. 1

Note. – STARD flow diagram of patient selection.