Review Article
Lumbar Spinal Instability: An Updated Rewiew
| Alessandra Splendiani*, Lucia Patriarca, Silvia Mariani, Ernesto Di Cesare and Massimo Gallucci | |
| Department of Radiology, University of L’Aquila, Ospedale Sm di Collemagio, I-167100, L’Aquila, Italy | |
| Corresponding Author : | Alessandra Splendiani Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences University of L’Aquila, I-167100, L’Aquila, Italy Tel: +393479902770 E-mail: alessandra.splendiani@cc.univaq.it |
| Received December 03, 2014; Accepted January 07, 2015; Published January 10, 2015 | |
| Citation: Splendiani A, Patriarca L, Mariani S, Cesare E, Gallucci M (2015) Lumbar Spinal Instability: An Updated Rewiew. OMICS J Radiol 4:178. doi: 10.4172/2167-7964.1000178 | |
| Copyright: ©2015 Splendiani A et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Supine Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is routinely used in the assessment of low- back pain and radiculopathy. However, imaging findings often correlate poorly with clinical findings. This is partly related to the positional dependence of spinal stenosis, which reflects dynamic changes in soft-tissue structures. Upright MRI in the flexed, extended, rotated, standing, and bending positions allows patients to reproduce the positions that bring about their symptoms. Assessment of the degree of spinal stability in the degenerate and postoperative lumbar spine is also possible and it offers many diagnostic opportunities. The aim of this rewiew is to present the findings concerning the spine instability using conventional and upright MRI.
