Abstract
Management of patients after lumbar spine surgery or interventional radiology can
be complex, and postoperative imaging patterns are often poorly understood by nonspecialized
radiologists. This article focuses on postoperative imaging features of the lumbar
spine in five clinical settings (with corresponding interventions): vertebral osteoporotic
fractures (percutaneous vertebroplasty and vertebral augmentation), lumbar disk herniation
(surgical diskectomy and percutaneous interventional radiology), lumbar spinal stenosis
(surgical decompression), lumbar spondylolisthesis (surgical decompression and fusion),
and degenerative scoliosis (techniques of osteotomies).
For each intervention, we discuss imaging indications, depending if the patient is
asymptomatic or if there are suspected complications, describe normal and pathologic
imaging features, and present key points.
Keywords
vertebroplasty - spine - orthopaedic procedures - spinal fusion - diagnostic imaging
