Spine Imaging

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The primary role of imaging is the identification of undiagnosed systemic disease. Spine imaging has a significant specificity fault. There is a high prevalence of asymptomatic degenerative changes. The significance depends on the concordance between imaging findings and the clinical presentation. Spine imaging may be insensitive to dynamic lesions.

Ultimately spine imaging may fail to identify the pain source. For example ruptures of the capsule of a facet joint in the cervical spine from whiplash cannot be identified on imaging.