Common normal variants of pediatric vertebral development that mimic fractures: a pictorial review from a national longitudinal bone health study

Pediatr Radiol (2015) 45:593605 DOI 10.1007/s00247-014-3210-y

PICTORIAL ESSAY

Common normal variants of pediatric vertebral development that mimic fractures: a pictorial review from a national longitudinal bone health study

Jacob L. Jaremko & Kerry Siminoski & Gregory B. Firth & Mary Ann Matzinger &

Nazih Shenouda & Victor N. Konji & Johannes Roth & Anne Marie Sbrocchi & Martin H. Reed &

Mary Kathleen OBrien & Helen Nadel & Scott McKillop & Reinhard Kloiber & Jose Dubois &

Craig Coblentz & Martin Charron & Leanne M. Ward & Canadian STOPP Consortium National Pediatric Bone Health Working Group

Received: 3 July 2014 /Revised: 3 September 2014 /Accepted: 10 October 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Abstract Children with glucocorticoid-treated illnesses are at risk for osteoporotic vertebral fractures, and growing awareness of this has led to increased monitoring for these fractures. However scant literature describes developmental changes in

vertebral morphology that can mimic fractures. The goal of this paper is to aid in distinguishing between normal variants and fractures. We illustrate differences using lateral spine radiographs obtained annually from children recruited to the

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J. L. Jaremko (*) : K. SiminoskiDepartment of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, 2A2.41 WC Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, 8440-112 St.,Edmonton T6G 2B7, Canadae-mail: [email protected]

K. SiminoskiDepartment of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

G. B. FirthPaediatric Orthopaedic Unit,Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa

M. A. Matzinger : N. ShenoudaDepartment of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

V. N. KonjiPediatric Bone Health Clinical Research Program, Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario,Ottawa, Canada

J. Roth : L. M. WardDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

A. M. SbrocchiDepartment of Pediatrics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

M. H. ReedDepartment of Radiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

M. K. OBrienDepartment Diagnostic Imaging, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

H. NadelDepartment of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

S. McKillopDepartment of Radiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

R. KloiberDepartment of Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

J. DuboisDepartment of Radiology, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Canada

C. Coblentz

Department of...