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Case 3: 25 yo professional baseball player

Findings:

Sclerosis of the left L2 pedicle with a linear luceny along the inferior aspect of the pedicle

CT was done because of increased radiotracer uptake in the left L2 pedicle on a nuclear medicine bone scan for back pain

Case 3: 25 yo professional baseball player

Partial left pedicle stress fracture which shows evidence of healing on follow-up exam

Location: Lumbar > cervical > thoracic

Etiology: not related to direct trauma; due to altered biomechanics

Imaging: CT is best to show fracture, displacement or contralateral abnormality

Case 3: 25 yo professional baseball player

CT findings:

Coronal oriented fracture through the pedicle

Usually see associated bony sclerosis

May see contralateral abnormality such as pedicle fracture or hypoplasia

MR findings:

Low linear signal representing the fracture on all sequences with surrounding low T1 and high T2 and STIR signal