Incidental vertebral compression fractures in imaging studies: Lessons not learned by radiologists

Figure 2 Incidental vertebral fractures on multidetector computed tomography. A: Sagittal multiplanar reconstruction of the thoracic spine from a chest multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) study performed to rule out pulmonary nodules in a 74 year old woman. Moderate and severe grade wedge fractures of T7 and T8 are seen; B: Incidental moderate grade wedge fracture of T12 and mild grade L1 fracture depicted in an MDCT angiography study of the abdominal aorta in an 82 year old man; C: Another wedge fracture of T12 in a different patient. Use of electronic calipers reveals a 9 mm loss of vertebral anterior height (39.1%). A retropulsed superior endplate fragment is also noted.