Lumbar Neuraxial Ultrasound Corrrelation With MRI

After ethical committee approval, 20 consenting patients scheduled for MRI lumbar spine were included in the study. Patients with previous spinal surgeries or with gross spinal deformities were excluded. In all patients ultrasound scanning of the lumbar interspinous spaces was performed with curvilinear 2-5 MHz Sonosite probe. At each lumbar interspinous level (L1-2 to L5-S1) the best possible transverse and paramedian oblique sagittal view was obtained. The obtained ultrasound images were the graded based on the visibility of LF and PLL. The lumbar spine MRI images were analyzed by radiologists who were blinded to the ultrasound images. On MRI various parameters such as depth of epidural space, absence of LF, thickness of LF, characteristics of muscular and intervening fatty tissue, epidural/subdural fat thickness etc was noted. The correlation between neuraxial ultrasound images and various parameters observed in MRI was identified.