ArticleJournal of the Belgian Society of Radiology2023
Vacuum Phenomenon in the Lumbar Spine: Pilot Study for Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Article in Journal of the Belgian Society of Radiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Could alteration in the vacuum phenomenon rather than its presence be a sign of spinal instability?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- The impact of fixed segment length on the surgical outcomes of single-segment lumbar burst fractures: shorter segments are more prone to the formation of local stable osteophytes: a retrospective observational study.Asian spine journal · 2025Article
- Diagnostic Accuracy of Pre-Biopsy MRI and CT Features for Predicting Vertebral Biopsy Yield in Suspected Vertebral Discitis Osteomyelitis: A Retrospective Single-Center Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of Vacuum Phenomenon on Cage Subsidence and Fusion Outcomes in Oblique Lumbar Interbody Fusion: A Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Diagnostic Utility of the "Air Sign" as a Radiological Indicator for Mandibular Body and Angle Fractures.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of the Disc Vacuum Phenomenon on Surgical Outcomes in Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Comparative Study between Endoscopic Decompression and Minimally Invasive Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Can magnetic resonance imaging findings effectively diagnose the instability observed on radiographs in patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis?Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Article
- Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum in a Middle-Aged Female Patient With Schizophrenia: A Case Report.Cureus · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: Vacuum phenomenon (VP) is defined as air within a joint. Many pathologies are associated with VP, mainly degenerative disease and trauma. Although patients with intradiscal gas may be asymptomatic, it promotes disc degeneration and can eventually become painful. VP is suspected to be an indicator of segmental mobility, helping in determining the extent of spinal fusion in a preoperative setting. This could make the detection of VP useful on routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lower spine. We determined the accuracy of MRI in detecting intradiscal gas through a retrospective observational study. Materials and methods: The study population consists of 37 consecutive patients with low back pain who were scheduled for treatment with spinal infiltrations and received a computed tomography and MRI scan within a maximum time interval of 3 months. Spin echo (SE) T1 and T2 and gradient echo (GE) T1 sequences were analyzed. All scans were randomly coded and evaluated by two observers: an experienced neuroradiologist and a radiology resident for the presence of VP. Results: GE-imaging revealed a high accuracy with a sensitivity of 89.3%-92% and a specificity of 89.7-95.3% between both observers. In comparison to a sensitivity of 31.5%-76.3% for T1- and 8.5%-86.4% for T2-imaging and a specificity of 95%-100% for T1- and 63.7%-100% for T2-imaging with respective accuracy of 68.1%-85.7% and 54.6%-68.9%. We notice a moderate interobserver variability for the T1 (κ = 0.462) weighted imaging, no agreement for T2 (κ = 0.057) weighted imaging, and almost perfect interobserver variability for the GE sequence (κ = 0.889). Conclusion: The presence of VP in degenerative disc disease is a sign of segmental instability which is important for planning spinal fusion surgery. Our study showed that VP can be detected on MRI of the lumbar spine with high accuracy and almost perfect interobserver agreement by adding GE sequences to the scanning protocol.
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