RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Vertebral sclerosis in adults.
JF Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
JO Ann Rheum Dis
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and European League Against Rheumatism
SP 18
OP 22
DO 10.1136/ard.38.1.18
VO 38
IS 1
A1 A S Russell
A1 J S Percy
A1 B C Lentle
YR 1979
UL http://ard.bmj.com/content/38/1/18.abstract
AB Narrowing of the intervertebral disc space with sclerosis of the adjacent vertebral bodies may occur as a consequence of infection, neoplasia, trauma, or rheumatic disease. Some patients have been described with backache and these radiological appearances without any primary cause being apparent. The lesions were almost always of 1 or, at most, 2 vertebrae and most frequently involved the inferior margin of L4. We describe 3 patients with far more extensive vertebral involvement and present the clinical, radiological, scintiscan, and histological findings. The only patient we have seen with the better known, isolated L4/5 lesion was shown on biopsy to have staphylococcal osteomyelitis. For this reason we would still recommend a biopsy of all such sclerotic vertebral lesions if they occur in the absence of other rheumatic disease.