Romanus lesion (vertebral bodies)

Last revised by Craig Hacking on 12 Nov 2021

The Romanus lesion represents an early finding in inflammatory spondyloarthropathies, such as ankylosing spondylitis and enteropathic arthritis, and appears as irregularity and erosion involving the anterior and posterior edges of the vertebral endplates 1. Healing response to these inflammatory erosions appears radiographically as reactive sclerosis in the same location, which is known as the shiny corner sign 3

History and etymology

Ragnar Romanus, a Swedish general surgeon, and Sven Yden, a Swedish radiologist, described this eponymous lesion in a paper in 1955. This paper was also the first to use the term shiny corners 2.

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