척추 압박골절의 자기공명 영상

Objective: The aim of this study is to differentiate between the etiologies of vertebral compression fracture according to MR image and it’s enhancement.<BR> Methods: MR images of 48 acute compression fracture within three month after trauma， 13 chronic compression fracture longer than three month after trauma， 49 osteoporotic compression fracture， and 27 metastatic compression fracture were reviewed respectively according to signal intensity， signal pattern in T1 weighted image (WI) and enhancement on gadolinium-enhanced T1WI.<BR> Results: All cases of acute traumatic and metastatic compression fractures showed low signal intensity within the vertebral body on T1WI(100%)， and contrast enhancement on gadolinium-enhanced T1WI(100%). Acute traumatic and metastatic compression fractures were distinguished on the basis of three signal intensity characteristics: band-like configuration parallelling to the end plate(acute traumatic cases 80% ; malignant cases 0%)， patchy and focal involvement with preservation of peripheral portion(8% vs. 15%)， diffusely low signal(12% vs. 85%). Chronic traumatic compression fracture and osteoporotic compression fracture showed various signal intensity and signal pattern on T1WI. But in contrast enhancement， osteoporotic compression fracture showed roughly 50% contrast enhancement and chronic traumatic compression fracture showed rare contrast enhancement.<BR> Conclusion: Classification of compression fracture according to the signal intensity， signal pattern on T1WI and contrast enhancement were useful for differentiating between the etiology of vertebral compression fracture.