Wide anulus rent appearance on axial MR imaging: a sign of postdiskectomy recurrent disk herniation.
A band of high intensity extending from a hyperintense nucleus pulposus at the center of a lumbar disk toward the thecal sac is occasionally encountered on axial MR images with a long TR technique. A retrospective review of 195 patients who previously underwent surgery of the lumbar spine revealed eight instances of this wide anulus rent appearance. Four were confirmed to have recurrent disk herniation at re-operation, and the other four were clinically strongly suggestive. Wide anulus rent appearance is a useful sign of a postdiskectomy recurrent disk herniation.
Murayama
S
S
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Numaguchi
Y
Y
Gupta
K L
KL
Lee
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation