Dorsal and ventral thoracic 12 vertebra body height is associated with incident lumbar vertebral fracture in postmenopausal osteoporotic women

Yun-Sic Bang,1 Seunghoon Lee,1 Keum Nae Kang,2 Joohyun Lee,3 Hye-Won Jeong,3 Soo Il Choi,3 Young Uk Kim3 1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Korea; 2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, National Police Hospital, Seoul, Korea; 3Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, College of Medicine, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon, Korea Purpose: We measured dorsal and ventral thoracic 12 vertebral (T12V) body heights as a way to predict lumbar vertebral fracture (LVF) in postmenopausal women. MRI of dorsal and ventral T12V body heights has not yet been used to investigate their association with LVF. We hypothesized that the dorsal and ventral T12V body height are important morphologic parameters in the prediction of LVF.Patients and methods: In total, 80 osteoporotic patients with LVF (LVF group) and 80 osteoporotic patients without LVF (control group) were examined by MRI at the lumbothoracic level. Sagittal T2-weighted MRI images in the T12 level were obtained from all subjects. We analyzed both the dorsal and ventral T12V body height. The difference in dorsal and ventral body heights of the control and LVF patients was calculated at the T12V level.Results: The average dorsal T12V body height was 21.25±1.64 mm in the control group and 20.11±1.49 mm in the LVF group. The average ventral T12V body heights were 19.51±1.54 mm and 17.62±1.95 mm, respectively. The LVF group had significantly lower dorsal and ventral T12V body heights (both P