The Radiographic Diagnosis of Sacroiliitis

✍ Scribed by Lawrence M. Ryan; Guillermo F. Carrera; Robert W. Lightfoot Jr.; Raymond G. Hoffman; Franklin Kozin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 360 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780260609

✦ Synopsis

Conventional radiography is the standard method of objectively identifying sacroiliitis. Single views of the sacroiliac joints can be unequivocally interpreted in 70430% of patients with low back pain. A series of views usually correctly resolves the ambiguity in the remaining 2 0 3 0 % of patients (67% correct). Computed tomography will be helpful in the few patients in whom a series of views produces equivocal interpretation.

History (1). physical examination (2,3), scintigraphy (4-6), plain radiography, and computed tomography (CT) (7,8) are all imperfect methods of identifying that proportion of patients with low back pain who have sacroiliitis. Plain radiography remains the most widely accepted and accessible means of objectively and certainly identifying sacroiliitis. We have studied a series of patients who complained of low back pain, in order to refine our use of plain radiography and assess