Case: Spine radiograph #81459515
Spine Intermediate
Read this radiograph systematically before revealing the answer. What is the main abnormality?
Image: Staff at the Department of Radiology, UC San Diego Health . via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source · resized and converted to WebP
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Answer: Normal cervical spine radiograph
What to look for in normal cervical spine radiograph
- Adequacy: the lateral shows from the skull base to the top of T1, including the C7/T1 junction.
- The anterior vertebral, posterior vertebral, spinolaminar and spinous process tip lines are smooth and unbroken.
- On the peg view the lateral masses of C1 line up with those of C2 and the dens sits centrally. A normal film does not clear the spine (NICE NG232: CT first-line in adult trauma).
Description by the image author (may be in another language): Projectional radiography ("X-ray") of a normal cervical spine of a 20 year old male, by odontoid view.
Educational case. The diagnosis comes from the image's documented source; the "what to look for" list describes the condition in general and is not a report of this individual image.
