Image classification of osteoporotic vertebral fracture with endplate-disc complex Injury

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to use MRI and CT to observe osteoporosis vertebral fracture (OVF) combined with endplate-disc complex (EDC) injury and to classify the degree of EDC injury according to the changes in EDC signal intensity and morphology on the images. METHODS: We investigated the incidence of EDC injury, observed the morphology and signal intensity changes of EDC injury using MRI and CT, and graded the injuries from 0 to 4 according to their severity. We compared whether there were differences in the degree of EDC injury among different vertebral fractures, bone mineral density(BMD), and severity of vertebral fractures. RESULTS: A total of 479 patients were included in this study, of whom 321 had EDC injury adjacent to the fractured vertebral body. Among those, 158 cases were grade 0, 66 cases were grade 1, 72 cases were grade 2, 78 cases were grade 3, and 92 cases were grade 4. The degree of EDC injury associated with thoracolumbar vertebral fractures was more serious than that of EDC injuries associated with thoracic and lumbar vertebral body fractures. Vertebral fractures with severe osteoporosis were associated with more severe EDC injury. Additionally, the more severe the vertebral fracture, the more severe was the combined EDC injury. CONCLUSION: This study found that the incidence rate of EDC injury reached 67.0%. Among patients with OVF, severe osteoporosis and severe fractures in the thoracolumbar segments were often associated with more severe EDC injury.