Commentary: Validating the use of magnetic resonance imaging in making treatment decisions in patients with spine trauma

摘要

As spine surgery has evolved over the past 15 years, so have the tools used to diagnose and treat spine disease. This has been particularly true with the advent and continued maturation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [1,2]. Tumors and vascular abnormalities can be precisely localized and characterized, and this has led to less invasive, safer surgery. The field of spine trauma has also benefited from the continued advancement of MRI. Abnormalities that could only be inferred are now strikingly evident on MRI, such as extent of spinal cord compression, spinal cord edema and hemorrhage, and ligamentous injury [3-5]. The ability of MRI to precisely image the posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) of the spine [6] has allowed physicians to assess its integrity after spine trauma. This information has directly contributed to the development of a new classification system for thoracolumbar trauma, the Thoracolumbar Injury Classification and Severity Scale (TLICS) [7].