OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of magnetic resonance images (MRI) in traumatic ligament injuries of the spine. METHOD: Retrospective analysis for evaluation of MRI imaging in 32 patients with traumatic lesions of the spine who underwent surgical treatment. The evaluation of lesions of the posterior ligament complex (PLC) by MRI imaging was performed independently by two radiologists. One group of patients had MRI that included a sequence of images with liquid-sensitive fat suppression (STIR or SPAIR T2) in addition to routine images and the other group did not include MRI images with fat suppression. The evaluations of images were compared with observations made during surgery. We performed the analysis of intra- and interobserver reproducibility between the two radiologists using the Kappa coefficient. RESULTS: We observed injury in PLC in 21/32 patients. Overall, the sensitivity of MRI for the PLC lesions ranged from 88.9% to 100% and specificity ranged between 0% and 50% The agreement between the evaluation of radiologists was higher in MRI without fat suppression (Κ=0.6) than in tests that included sequences with suppression (Κ = 0.34). CONCLUSION: The evaluation of lesions of the posterior ligaments by MRI by radiologists resulted in good sensitivity compared to surgical findings but had low specificity, as found in literature. In the current sample using the use of the sign of edema present in the sequences with fat suppression reduced the interobserver agreement.
Spinal fractures; Spinal injuries; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
