Preoperative assessment of idiopathic scoliosis in adolescent and young adult with three-dimensional T2-weighted spin-echo MRI

Abstract Purpose To compare tridimensional (3D) T2-weighted spin-echo MRI and CT for minimal pedicle width measurements in the preoperative assessment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) in adolescent and young patients. Materials and methods A total of 22 adolescents/young patients suffering from AIS were retrospectively included. There were 18 females and 4 males with a mean age of 15.3 ± 2.3 (SD) years (range: 11–21 years). Preoperative lumbar spine MRI and CT examinations of the 22 patients were reviewed by two independent readers who measured the minimal width of 259 pedicles. Inter-reader agreement for CT and MRI was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Intra-reader agreement and relative differences in measurements between MRI and CT were also assessed for each reader. Results Inter-reader agreement was excellent (ICC ≥ 0.8) for both CT and MRI. Relative differences in measurements between CT and MRI was 10.3% for reader 1 and 9.4% for reader 2. Conclusion 3D T2-weighted spin-echo MRI underestimates minimal pedicle width by only 9.4 - 10.3% compared to CT. 3D T2-weighted MRI appears as a valuable alternative to CT for preoperative measurements of vertebral pedicles in AIS.