Sclerotic lesions of the spine: MRI assessment

Abstract

Sclerotic (T2 dark) lesions of the spine are infrequent and, as a result, these are often missed or misdiagnosed. Plain films may not be always available during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) readout. Knowledge of such lesions and their imaging appearances on MRI evaluation is essential for a reader. Additionally, a systematic approach is important to accurately diagnose these lesions. In this article we discuss the various causes of spinal sclerotic lesions, describe their MRI characteristics with relevant case examples, and outline a systematic approach to their evaluation.

T2 black lesions on routine knee MRI: differential considerations

“…It presumably reflects nitrogen gas derived from the hyaluronic acid in the articular cartilage. VP is generally considered a normal phenomenon, although its association with advanced joint degeneration is common [3]. Some diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, such as CT arthrography, may inject air into the joint to produce a double contrast effect.…”

A mini-review on aplastic anemia, illustrated by a case report on bone marrow hot pockets mimicking sclerotic bone metastases

“…The normal hematopoiesis on the CT guided bone biopsy in this case report was very discrepant from the profoundly hypocellular marrow from the first [16][17][18][19][20][21]. MRI is the preferred imaging technique in AA; normal hematopoietically active red bone marrow yields low intensity signal, while yellow marrow demonstrates a hyperintense signal on T1WI.…”

Prevalence of benign osseous lesions of the spine and association with spinal pain in the general population in whole body MRI

“…This increases the likelihood of our results generalizing to other Caucasian adult populations. Contrary to other available studies[1, 2, 6, 28, 50] a particular strength is that we did not focus on single types of osseous lesions but covered all major subtypes thus providing a broad picture of these types of lesions and their associations with pain. A limitation of this study is that we did not provide contrast-enhanced imaging or histological assessment of the detected osseous lesions.…”