Paracondylar Process
If not attached to occipital bone, process is isolated rod-like bony element called massa paracondylica Portions may be pneumatized from mastoid air cells Top Differential Diagnoses • Assimilation of C1 into…
Measurement Techniques
Rheumatoid Arthritis Measurements CV Junction Trauma Measurements (Left) Sagittal graphic of craniocervical junction shows Wackenheim clival line (red) extending tangent to the normal odontoid position. The line is drawn from…
Fracture Classification
Score is a total of 3 components. Score ≤ 3 suggests nonoperative treatment, while score of 4 is indeterminate. Score ≥ 5 suggests operative treatment. For injury mechanism, the worst…
Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis
Sagittal T1WI MR shows multiple areas of ↓ signal in multiple vertebral bodies without paraspinal or epidural soft tissue. Compression fractures are present at multiple levels , some with normal…
Ponticulus Posticus
Vertebral artery passes through osseous tunnel • May be partial or complete • Unilateral or bilateral Top Differential Diagnoses • Broad C1 posterior arch Pathology • Postulated to arise from ossification of lateral segment…
Spread of Neoplasms
(Left) Axial graphic shows hematogenously disseminated lytic metastatic lesion to thoracic vertebral body and pedicle, with subsequent direct epidural tumor extension and cord compression. (Right) Axial T1WI C+ MR shows…
Introduction to Scoliosis
(Left) Anteroposterior radiograph shows idiopathic thoracic dextroscoliosis. Apical vertebra is the most displaced from the midline. Terminal vertebrae show the greatest deviation of the endplates from the horizontal. (Right) Lateral…
Wallerian Degeneration
(Left) Prior C7 trauma with extensive anterior cervical fusion and laminectomy. Sagittal T2WI shows instrumented fusion at C4-C5 and fusion at C6-T1 level on a congenital basis. There has been…
Ossiculum Terminale
May be dystopic or orthotopic • Soft tissue pannus suggests atlantoaxial instability • Myelomalacia, brainstem compression in rare cases Top Differential Diagnoses • Os odontoideum • Type I or II odontoid fracture • Normal unfused…
Normal Anatomy
AtlasAxisTransverse processIliac wingSacral ala7 cervical vertebral bodies12 thoracic vertebral bodies5 lumbar vertebral bodies5 fused sacral vertebral bodies4 coccygeal bodies(Top) Coronal graphic of the spinal column shows relationship of 7 cervical,…
