MRI-INDICATIONS

SUMMARY

1. Rcommended in the setting of myelopathy, instability, or ligamentous injury.

2. Helical CT can better delineate a fracture, and can disclose other vertebral fractures not seen on plain radiographs.

3. MRI can best show any traumatic disk extrusion or spinal cord abnormality.

4. Fast spin-echo T2-weighted images with fat suppression can show soft tissue oedema or haemorrhage associated with ligamentous tearing in whiplash injuries.

5. MRI with gadolinium can help differentiate between osteoporotic and malignant pathologic fractures.

Reference(s)

Furman, Michael B., and Leland Berkwits. Atlas of Image-Guided Spinal Procedures. Elsevier, Inc, 2017.
Horowitz AL. MRI Physics for Physicians. Springer Science & Business Media. (1989) ISBN:1468403338.
Mangrum W, Christianson K, Duncan S et-al. Duke Review of MRI Principles. Mosby. (2012) ISBN:1455700843.