Presentation
Low back pain.
Patient Data
Age: 80 years
Gender: Male
From the case:
Butterfly vertebra - S1
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Frontal

Lucent defect with sclerotic edges in the central portion of S1. Multilevel degenerative discs and facet joints.
From the case:
Butterfly vertebra - S1
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Sagittal T2

Five lumbar type vertebrae. Incidental S1 butterfly vertebra with a small paraspinous cleft.
Multilevel degenerative discs and facet joints most significantly result in severe L2-3 and L3-4 spinal canal stenosis with proximal cauda equina redundancy.
Case Discussion
This is an example of an S1 butterfly vertebra, a.k.a. sagittal cleft vertebra, with disc material filling a space left by notochord remnant and failed chondral center fusion.