Vertebra plana

Vertebra plana (plural: vertebrae planae), also known as the pancake, silver dollar or coin-on-edge vertebra, is the term given when a vertebral body has lost almost its entire height anteriorly and posteriorly, representing a very advanced compression fracture.

Pathology

It can occur in a variety of settings, including:

• trauma
• osteoporosis
• Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH)
  • most common cause of vertebra plana in children
• osteogenesis imperfecta
• leukemia
  • most common primary pediatric malignancy
  • loss of vertebral height and increased sclerosis are common in the vertebral body
• vertebral metastases
• multiple myeloma
• lymphoma
  • B-symptoms and multiple levels involvement unlike LCH, which commonly involves a single level
• osteomyelitis
  • bacterial infection commonly causes disc destruction and vertebral
    body endplate erosions
  • spinal tuberculosis spondylitis commonly causes bone destruction with somewhat relative disc preservation, which can cause vertebra plana, however, some form of vertebral endplate change is usually present
  • chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis: rare cause in children ³
• vertebral hemangioma

There are a number of mnemonics for the causes of vertebra plana.

See also

• platyspondyly: flattened vertebral bodies throughout the entire skeleton