Imaging of Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Fractures

Fractures of the thoracic and lumbar spine are common in patients who have sustained high energy spinal trauma, and are associated with injury to the spinal cord in up to 50% of cases. Accurate early assessment is essential because delay in diagnosis may result in the development of neurologic complications. Clinical assessment of these patients is often challenging, and as a result, diagnostic imaging usually plays a central role in their management. The purpose of this chapter is to explore this role by answering the following questions: What are the imaging options? Who should be imaged? How should they be imaged? and What are the imaging findings for the most common types of thoracolumbar fractures?