The Preoperative Spine: Diagnostic Work up with fMRI.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Neurosurgery
• Orthopedics

Background:

• Unexplained spinal and neurological pain often presents diagnostic challenges.
• Conventional MRI may not detect dynamic or position-dependent pathologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the advantages of upright, open, multi-positional functional MRI (fMRI).
• To review literature and illustrative cases of fMRI in spinal diagnostics.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing functional MRI (fMRI) in upright, open, multi-positional configurations.
• Noninvasive visualization of dynamic spinal compressions, stenosis, and instabilities.

Main Results:

• fMRI effectively reveals dynamic compressions, segmental dysfunction, and instabilities.
• Demonstrates a better correlation between clinical signs/symptoms and imaging findings.

Conclusions:

• fMRI is a valuable tool for investigating unexplained, position-dependent spinal pathologies.
• This technology may become essential for preoperative assessment of unstable spinal conditions.
• fMRI has the potential to reduce the incidence of failed back surgery syndrome.