Lumbar Intervertebral Disc and Discovertebral Segment. Part 2: An Imaging Review of Pathologic Conditions With Anatomic Correlation

The lumbar intervertebral disc is a complex anatomic structure that can be affected by a number of distinct pathologic processes. Categories of the disease include degenerative changes, subclinical or overt trauma, infectious lesions, inflammatory insults, metabolic disease, and tumors. Abnormalities affecting the intervertebral disc may assume atypical appearances or alterations may as well mimic pathologic processes related to degeneration that can be asymptomatic. Although the imaging findings of degenerative diseases of the vertebral column have been emphasized extensively, the assembly of pathologic conditions associated with the discovertebral segment has not received adequate attention. This manuscript reviews and illustrates a range of abnormalities affecting the discovertebral segment, providing a detailed analysis of postmortem material, in the realm of a close anatomic-imaging correlation. Knowledge of the characteristic morphology and patterns of abnormal conditions affecting the intervertebral disc and discovertebral segment can help radiologists narrow the differential diagnosis in a broad spectrum of disease processes.