[Roentgen morphology of the eburnated vertebral body--diagnostic and differential diagnostic problems]

1. Numerous diseases may become manifest as eburnated vertebral bodies, and hence the x-ray morphological sign of eburnation is an unspecific one. Isolated characteristics such as the involvement of one or several vertebrae, an intact vertebral space, a broadening of the paravertebral accompanying shadow, and the remaining radiological skeletal status enable narrowing down the differential diagnosis, although anamnesis and clinical findings will supply the main pointers. 2. In primary tumorous eburnations radiotherapy or chemotherapy will render an x-ray morphological assessment of therapeutic success impossible. 3. In primary diagnosis of an eburnated vertebral body it is possible to apply sonography, CT and MR as diagnostic tools step by step to narrow down the differential diagnosis by detecting or excluding pathological abdominal processes such as liver or lymphatic node metastases, paravertebral or intraspinal soft-part dense space-occupying growths or bone infiltration, but it will only rarely be possible to classify the phenomenon properly as being caused by a well-defined process, even if CT and MR are employed.