title: [Intravenous administration of contrast medium during computed tomography (CT) of the operated lumbar spine].
abstract: In 35 patients with recurrent radicular complaints which occurred 4 weeks to 38 months after operation for lumbar disc herniation, the degree of contrast enhancement of hypertrophic scar tissue was examined. All patients were scanned before and immediately after intravenous contrast application (volume: 1.5-2.0 ml/kg body weight, flow rate: 0.35 ml/sec). In 83% of the cases hypertrophic scar tissue did show definite contrast enhancement, whereas disc herniation remained unenhanced. Comparison between contrast enhancement and age of scar tissue produced poor correlation (r = 0.3012) with older scarring showing a trend towards lower enhancement levels. In cases where morphologic and topographic criteria in plain CT examination fail to yield a diagnosis, intravenous contrast application is recommended. Our data indicate that even those patients might benefit from the procedure who have been operated upon for disc herniation several months or years ago.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003974:Diatrizoate Meglumine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000601:surgery*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D003974:Diatrizoate Meglumine
vernacular_title: Intravenöse Kontrastmittelgabe bei der Computertomographie (CT) der operierten Lendenwirbelsäule.