title: MRI cervical spine findings in asymptomatic fighter pilots.
abstract: MRI of the cervical spine for evaluation concerning degenerative lesions was performed on asymptomatic experienced military high performance aircraft pilots (mean age 42 yr with mean accumulated flying time of 2600 h), and for comparison on age-matched controls without military flying experience. Young military high performance aircraft pilots (mean age 23 yr with 220 h of flying per person) were also examined. There were significantly more osteophytes, disk protrusions, compressions of the spinal cord and foraminal stenoses in the experienced pilots than in the age-matched controls. Low frequency of low grade degenerative lesions was found in the young and inexperienced pilots.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Diagnostic Radiology, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. Marianne.Petren-Mallmin@radiol.uu.se
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrén-Mallmin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D017677:Age Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D018471:Hypergravity / Q000009:adverse effects; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013128:Spinal Osteophytosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors