IMAGING CHARACTERISTICS AND RELIABILITY OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF THORACOLUMBAR SPINE INJURY
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: Thoracolumbar spine injury is a common surgical disease in Vietnam. Accurate diagnosis and instability assessment is essential to select the most appropriate treatment method. Determining the reliability of computed tomography with magnetic resonance in assessing spinal instability will be of great value in the treatment of patients with thoracolumbar spine injury.
Objectives: To study the imaging characteristics and reliability of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing thoracolumbar spine injury. Materials and methods: A prospective, cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on patients with a clinical diagnosis of thoracolumbar spine injury, undergoing computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging at the Can Tho Central General Hospital from July 2022 to May 2024. Results: A total of 35 patiens (10 men and 25 women, with the age of 18-86 years) were included in the study. The most common thoracolumbar injury level was T11–L2 (77.1%) while the least common level was T1–T10 (2.9%). There was moderate to almost perfect agreement between computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in assessing the instability of the thoracolumbar spine after injury with kappa ranging from 0.565 to 0.951 (p<0.001). Conclusions: The combination of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging plays an important role in diagnosing the location and morphology of fractures, damage to the spinal cord and surrounding soft tissue as well as determining instability of thoracolumbar spine injuries. Therefore, they are of great help in choosing the appropriate treatment for the patient.
Article Details
Keywords
Thoracolumbar spine injury, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, reliability, instability
References
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