STUDY OF MRI MORPHOLOGY OF SPINAL TUBERCULOSIS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the morphology of tuberculosis of spine on MRI. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A retrospective study was done in the department of Radiodiagnosis, PESIMSR, Kuppam.This study includes 37 patients with suspected Spinal Tuberculosis, who were referred to the department of Radiodiagnosis between 2019 Jan to 2021 July. Informed consent was taken from all the patients. This study was done on GE Signa Explorer 1.5 Tesla. RESULTS: A total of 37 cases were included in the study. Of these 37 cases, 31 were males and 6 were females. The most common age group involved was between 20-40 years, seen in 15 cases followed by 41-60 yrs seen in 14 cases and 61-90 yrs seen in 8 cases. Lumbar vertebrae were commonly affected accounting for 86% of total cases (32cases) followed by dorsal and cervical vertebrae accounting for 8% and 5 % respectively (3 and 2 cases respectively). Intervertebral disc involvement (Discitis) was most commonly seen in 32 cases followed by vertebral endplate involvement (27 cases) in our study. Prevertebral & paravertebral involvement were found in 20 and 23 cases respectively . In our study,19 cases had shown the involvement of posterior elements .Epidural soft tissue component was seen in 22 cases. Psoas abscess and paraspinal involvement were seen in 9 and 8 cases respectively. CONCLUSION: MRI helps in the early assessment of the extent and severity of disease compared to X-ray and CT scan. It is valuable in detecting early marrow changes, intervertebral disc involvement, extradural abscess and cord compression.