Hackney D B
Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Top Magn Reson Imaging. 1992 Mar;4(2):12-36.
Evaluation of degenerative disk disease is, by far, the most common indication for spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It is rare to identify a patient over the age of 40 whose spine does not demonstrate at least some of the imaging features of degenerative disease. In spite of the ubiquitous nature of degenerative changes in the spine and decades of intensive study of degenerative processes, many questions concerning degenerative disease, including its immediate etiology, remain unanswered. Radiologic evaluation of degenerative spine disease focuses on the anatomic relationships between the disk, vertebral endplates and facet joints with the subarachnoid space, nerve roots, and spinal cord. Although MRI lacks the detail of high resolution computed tomography for defining the anatomy of osteophytes, MRI appears to be the primary modality for evaluating degenerative spine disease, and in most cases, MRI may be definitive.
到目前为止，评估椎间盘退变是脊柱磁共振成像（MRI）最常见的指征。很少能找到一位40岁以上的患者，其脊柱未显示出至少一些退变疾病的影像学特征。尽管脊柱退变改变普遍存在，且对退变过程进行了数十年的深入研究，但许多关于退变疾病的问题，包括其直接病因，仍未得到解答。脊柱退变疾病的放射学评估重点在于椎间盘、椎体终板和小关节与蛛网膜下腔、神经根和脊髓之间的解剖关系。尽管MRI在定义骨赘解剖结构方面缺乏高分辨率计算机断层扫描的细节，但MRI似乎是评估脊柱退变疾病的主要方式，并且在大多数情况下，MRI可能具有决定性作用。
