MRI manifestations and differentiated diagnosis of postoperative spinal complications

J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci. 2009 Aug;29(4):522-6. doi: 10.1007/s11596-009-0426-4. Epub 2009 Aug 7.

Abstract

To analyze MR manifestations of postoperative spinal complications and investigate the value of MRI in the diagnosis and differentiated diagnosis, 114 cases of spinal postoperative complications were analyzed retrospectively and compared with the clinical data. The results showed that the main postoperative spinal complications included spinal stenosis (n=33, consisting of 21 cases of epidural fibrosis and 12 cases of epidural hematoma or epidural abscess), lack of spinal stability (n=43), infection (n=23, consisting of 7 cases of para-spinal soft-tissue infection, 5 cases of vertebral discitis, 4 cases of vertebral and appendix infection, 3 cases of epidural abscess, 2 cases of myelitis, 2 cases of spinal arachnoiditis), others (n=28, consisting of 12 cases of inner fixation failure, 9 cases of epidural hematoma, 7 cases of cerebrospinal fluid gusher). It is concluded that MRI can specifically display all kinds of postoperative spinal complications, and is of significant value in the diagnosis and differentiated diagnosis of postoperative spinal complications.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal / diagnosis
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Male
  • Postoperative Complications / diagnosis*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Spinal Diseases / diagnosis*
  • Spinal Stenosis / diagnosis