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Lower lumbar osteoporotic vertebral fractures with neurological symptoms might have two different pathogeneses according to early magnetic resonance images

  • Original Article - Spine trauma
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Abstract

Background

Most osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) occur in the thoracolumbar area without neurological symptoms. The pathogenesis and clinical results of symptomatic lower lumbar OVFs have not been analysed. We aimed to retrospectively investigate the risk factors for the occurrence of neurological symptoms in patients with lower lumbar OVFs and to assess the clinical results of these symptoms using magnetic resonance (MR) images.

Methods

Of the 104 patients enrolled, 21% reported neurological symptoms. We divided OVFs with neurological symptoms into various types using early MR images and investigated the risk factors for each type. Clinical results of symptomatic patients were also evaluated.

Results

Symptomatic patients with lower lumbar OVFs mainly had one of two fracture types, indicated by total low and superior/inferior low-intensity signals on T1-weighted images. A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a smaller canal area and longer disease duration were risk factors for all patients. For patients with OVFs indicated by total low intensity, symptomatic patients had a significantly smaller canal area than non-symptomatic patients. For patients with OVFs indicated by superior/inferior low intensity, symptomatic patients had a significantly higher frequency of L4 and L5 vertebral fractures, longer disease duration, smaller canal area, smaller angle between the facets, and higher frequency of coexisting degenerative spondylolisthesis than non-symptomatic patients. Symptomatic patients with OVFs indicated by total low intensity had poorer clinical results regarding walking ability than symptomatic patients with OVFs indicated by superior/inferior low intensity.

Conclusions

Lower lumbar OVFs with neurological symptoms might have two different pathogeneses according to early MR images. Compared with symptomatic patients with OVFs indicated by superior/inferior low intensity, symptomatic patients with OVFs indicated by total low intensity may require different treatment strategies to avoid symptoms.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing.

Funding

This work was supported in part by Japanese Orthopaedic Association Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (E.N.). The sponsor had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hamawaki Orthopaedic Hospital, 4-6-6 Otemachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, 730-0051, Japan

    Yosuke Oishi, Masaaki Murase, Katsumi Doi, Yoshinori Takeuchi & Jun-ichi Hamawaki

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Kitakyushu, Yahatanishi-ku, 807-8555, Japan

    Eiichiro Nakamura & Akinori Sakai

Authors
  1. Yosuke Oishi
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  2. Eiichiro Nakamura
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  3. Masaaki Murase
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  4. Katsumi Doi
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  5. Yoshinori Takeuchi
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  6. Jun-ichi Hamawaki
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  7. Akinori Sakai
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Correspondence to Yosuke Oishi.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The ethics committee for human research at our hospital approved the study protocol, and informed consent to undergo an examination and operation was obtained from all patients. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Oishi, Y., Nakamura, E., Murase, M. et al. Lower lumbar osteoporotic vertebral fractures with neurological symptoms might have two different pathogeneses according to early magnetic resonance images. Acta Neurochir 161, 2211–2222 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-019-04045-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-019-04045-6

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