Persistent notochordal canal imitating compression fracture--plain film, CT and MR appearance.
BACKGROUND
Persistent notochordal canal is a rare developmental anomaly, typically restricted to 1 or 2 vertebral levels, and only in exceptional cases extending over a longer segment. It is usually asymptomatic and discovered incidentally.


METHODS
A 30-year-old woman reported to our department for control lumbar spine plain films. About 2 years before, after minor trauma, she had been misdiagnosed on radiograms in another hospital as having a compression L5 vertebra fracture. The assessment of current plain films and analysis of previous radiograms delivered indicated the need for taking a developmental anomaly into consideration. Based on CT and MR of lumbar spine performed, a final diagnosis of a persistent notochordal canal was established.


CONCLUSIONS
In spite of its rare occurrence, the characteristic features of a persistent notochordal canal should be known by radiologists, particularly to avoid misinterpretation in post-traumatic patients.
Radiology Department, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland. rchrzan@mp.pl
Robert
R
Chrzan
Lilianna
L
Podsiadlo
Izabela
I
Herman-Sucharska
Andrzej
A
Urbanik
Amira
A
Bryll
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D050815:Fractures, Compression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009672:Notochord / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology*; D011871:Radiology / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*