Researchers studied 124 patients with idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis or ankylosing spondylitis using a level 1 trauma center’s radiology database. They analyzed which fractures were identified by CT scans and which were captured by MRIs.
Four findings:
1. An MRI revealed additional injuries beyond what the CT scans picked up in 4.8 percent of patients, or six patients.
2. Four of those patients experienced a change in their treatment plan based on the additional MRI findings.
3. CT imaging only missed one fracture. The other injuries it failed to pick up were either discoligamentous hyperextension injuries through mobile disks or intracanal pathology.
4. MRIs shouldn’t be overutilized but could be useful in preventing delayed or missed diagnoses, researchers concluded.
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