Tower vertebra : a new observation in sickle cell disease

Skeletal abnormalities are common in sickle cell anemia. Ischemia, infarction, and growth disturbance of the thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies are among the most common abnormalities, and can suggest the diagnosis radiographically. We recently encountered two adult patients in whom vertebrae had...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Skeletal radiology 1998-04, Vol.27 (4), p.195-198
Main Authors: MARLOW, T. J, BRUNSON, C. Y, JACKSON, S, SCHABEL, S. I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anemia, Sickle Cell - diagnostic imaging
Anemias. Hemoglobinopathies
Biological and medical sciences
Bone Diseases, Developmental - diagnostic imaging
Disease
Diseases of red blood cells
Female
Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases
Humans
Infarction - diagnostic imaging
Ischemia - diagnostic imaging
Lumbar Vertebrae - blood supply
Lumbar Vertebrae - diagnostic imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Radiography
Sickle cell anemia
Spinal Diseases - diagnostic imaging
Thoracic Vertebrae - blood supply
Thoracic Vertebrae - diagnostic imaging
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Description
Summary:Skeletal abnormalities are common in sickle cell anemia. Ischemia, infarction, and growth disturbance of the thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies are among the most common abnormalities, and can suggest the diagnosis radiographically. We recently encountered two adult patients in whom vertebrae had grown abnormally in height adjacent to infarcted short vertebrae. We then reviewed the thoracic and lumbar spine radiographs of 54 more adult patients with sickle cell anemia. A total of eight patients (14%) displayed infarcted vertebrae with compensatory vertical growth of at least one adjacent vertebrae. These resemble the elongated vertebral bodies associated with other conditions. We can find no prior report of this finding in association with sickle cell anemia.
ISSN:0364-2348
1432-2161
DOI:10.1007/s002560050364