•  
  •  
 

Subject Area

Radiology and Imaging Sciences

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Background Short TI inversion recovery (STIR) sequence is one of the inversion recovery (IR) pulse sequences and is the most commonly used. The addition of a coronal STIR sequence is thought to be useful in detection of extraspinal etiologies of sciatica that may be missed on routine imaging protocol. Objective To assess the value of adding coronal STIR images to routine MRI protocol of lumbosacral spines aiming to detect extraspinal causes of sciatica. Patients and methods This prospective observational study was carried out between December 2019 and June 2020 on 300 patients (169 males, representing 56%, and 131 females, representing 44%). They presented with low back pain and were referred to perform routine lumbosacral spine MRI examination. We added a large field of view coronal STIR sequence to the routine protocol to investigate its capability to detect extraspinal causes of sciatica. Results Additional coronal STIR images detected extraspinal abnormalities in 21.3% of the patients, thereby downgraded normal studies from 40.7 to 24.7%. The extraspinal abnormalities included osteoarthritic abnormalities and stress fractures (n = 25; 39.1%), soft tissue abnormalities (n = 2, 4.5%), neurological abnormalities (n = 4, 6.3%), gynecological abnormalities (n = 31, 48.4%), and miscellaneous (n = 4, 6%). Conclusion Additional coronal STIR images helped to identify extraspinal abnormalities that were overlooked on routine MRI protocol in patients presenting with sciatica.

Download

Share

COinS