title: Acute calcific discitis in adults.
abstract: Acute calcific discitis in the pediatric population is a well-described entity and may rarely involve the adult population. Acute calcific discitis does occur in adults, presenting clinically with the abrupt onset of severe back pain with a classic radiographic calcification of the disc similar to that of a discogram; it resolves with nonsurgical symptomatic treatment. To our knowledge, no cases of "idiopathic" adult calcific discitis have been reported in the orthopedic literature. We report 2 adult patients with symptomatic thoracic disc calcifications that closely resemble those observed in children and briefly discuss the relevant clinical and radiographic features, along with a review of the literature.
authors.affiliation: Kenton D. Leatherman Spine Center, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Jamal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bazzi
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dimar
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Glassman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015299:Discitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae