Presentation
Retired man with acute on chronic neck pain. High clinical concern resulted in CT following limited plain film views.
Patient Data
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Aside from an open degenerative C5/C6 intervertebral disc space, the whole of the cervical spine is ankylosed.
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The florid ankylosis of the whole visualized cervicothoracic spine is illustrated.
The angulation at C5/C6 is due to this being the only remaining non-fused intervertebral disc space.
The C5/C6 disc space is degenerative.
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The rigid structure if bamboo from which the name of an ankylosed spine is rightly derived. Author: Jesper Rautell Balle. See case discussion for full attribution.
Case Discussion
Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of negative spondyloarthritides, nearly exclusively affecting males.
This is characterized with ankylosis of the spine and sacroiliac joints, forming in the most extreme cases a bamboo spine - the spine ankylosing into one rigid 'block' of bone, which is resultingly extremely susceptible to fracture.
Attribution
Author: Jesper Rautell Balle
Original file: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jrballe_bamboo_forest_Susukinobabacho_001.JPG
Modifications: cropped
License: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. In short: you are free to distribute and modify the file as long as you attribute its author(s) or licensor(s).