title: Early diagnosis of stress fracture of the lumbar spine in athletes.
abstract: Thirty-three athletes complaining of back pain of more than 1 months' duration and with normal radiography of the lower spine were all studied by scintigraphy and in 24 of them with single photon emission computerized tomography. A stress fracture was considered present if localized increased uptake was seen at a vertebral level. Scintigraphy showed increased uptake in 17 of 33 patients and single photon emission computerized tomography in 16 of 24 patients.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Canario de Ortopedia y Traumatología, Clinical Sciences Department, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Garcés
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: González-Montoro
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rasines
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santonja
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D015775:Fractures, Stress / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*