Cardiac
GI
Bone
GU
Neuro
Peds
Faculty
Student
Quizzes
Image DDX
Museum
Mobile
  Misc
Videocasts
Signs
Twitter

 

 

Learning
Radiology:
Recognizing
the Basics
Available
on the Kindle
and IPad

LearningRadiology Imaging Signs
on Twitter

  

Follow us on

Case of the Week 561



What is the most likely diagnosis?

  • 47 year-old male with numbness in arms



Lateral Cervical Spine Radiograph

  1. Ankylosing Spondylitis
  2. Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis
  3. Rheumatoid Arthritis
  4. Hyperparathyroidism
  5. Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament

Additional Images - Sagittal and axial CT images of the cervical spine

 

Additional Images

 


Sagittal and axial CT images of the cervical spine


Answer:

 

5. Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament (OPLL)

 

More (Click Discussion Tab)

 

 

Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament (OPLL)

General Considerations

  • Heterotopic ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament
  • Occurs primarily in cervical, most often C4-C5, next most commonly in thoracic spine and least frequently in lumbar spine
  • Most commonly in 40s and 50s
  • Twice as common in males as females
  • Higher prevalence in Asian population, especially Japanese

MORE . . .

 


.

This Week
47 year-old male with numbness in arms
 
 
Some of the fundamentals of interpreting chest images
 
The top diagnostic imaging diagnoses that all medical students should recognize according to the Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology
 
Recognizing normal and  key abnormal intestinal gas patterns, free air and abdominal calcifications
 
Recognizing the parameters that define a good chest x-ray; avoiding common pitfalls
 
How to recognize the most common arthritides




LearningRadiology
Named Magazine's
"25 Most Influential"

See Article on LearningRadiology
in August, 2010
RSNA News

LearningRadiology.com
is an award-winning educational website aimed primarily at medical students and radiology residents-in-training, containing  lectures, handouts, images, Cases of the Week, archives of cases, quizzes, flashcards of differential diagnoses and “most commons” lists, primarily in the areas of chest, GI, GU cardiac, bone and neuroradiology.