Dural ectasia in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: quantitative assessment on magnetic resonance imaging.

To our knowledge, the assessment of dural sac diameters in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is not reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to find out if, dural ectasia occurs more frequently among patients with AIS, to define cut-off values for dural sac ratio and test the validity of such values. A total of 126 spine MRIs (79 patients with AIS and 47 control subjects) were included in this retrospective analysis (age range 7-25 years, 62% were females).

Tonsillar ectopia in idiopathic scoliosis: does it play a role in the pathogenesis and prognosis or is it only an incidental finding?

Background: There is an ongoing controversy about the significance of tonsillar ectopia among patients with idiopathic scoliosis (IS).

Aim: To find out if tonsillar ectopia occurs more frequently among patients with IS and if it plays any etiological or prognostic role in IS.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) in the perioperative workup of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

The study aims were to estimate the radiation dose in patients examined with low dose spine CT and to compare it with that received by patients undergoing standard CT for trauma of the same region, as well as to evaluate the impact of dose reduction on image quality. Radiation doses in 113 consecutive low dose spine CTs were compared with those in 127 CTs for trauma. The inter- and intraobserver agreement in measurements of pedicular width, and vertebral rotation, measurements of signal-to-noise ratio and assessment of hardware status were the indicators in the evaluation of image quality.