Costo-vertebral arthropathy. Diagnostic and therapeutic value of arthrography

The authors report five cases of costo-vertebral (CV) joint arthropathies, without osteo-arthritis. The patients had referred pain, with misleading irradiations to the loin or to the abdomen, so that the diagnosis was difficult. The authors have performed in these five cases an arthrography of T11 and T12 CV joints. In every case, the arthrography triggered pain at one of these levels. The arthrography was followed by intra-articular injection of corticosteroid derivative in the symptomatic joint. In these cases, this procedure was a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic method. CV joint arthropathies are frequent, but often lead to incorrect diagnosis. These preliminary results encourage further use of this procedure in CV arthropathies.