73-year-old male with back pain and elevated white blood cell count.. The study limited due to patient motion despite numerous repeat sequences and the lack of intravenous contrast. There are postsurgical findings related to laminectomy from C3 to C7. There is diffuse high T2 signal in the posterior soft tissues of the neck along the surgical incision plane. A focal lesion in the subcutaneous tissues of the upper thoracic spine measuring 3.4 x 1.1 cm with high T1 and T2 signal suggestive of a subacute hematoma. There is multilevel degenerative spondylosis of the cervical spine associated with mild spinal canal narrowing and variable degrees of neural foramen stenosis. There is high T2 signal and volume loss within the spinal cord extending from C3 to C7. The remainder of the spine shows no abnormal signal within the cord. There are postsurgical findings related toL3-4 laminectomy. There is loss of height of the L3 and L4 vertebral bodies with irregular endplates and possible vaccuum disc phenomenon otherwise surrounded by high T2 signal in the L3-4 disc space. There is also a disc bulge at L3-4 that results in mild spinal canal and bilateral neural foramen stenosis. Minimal degenerative spondylosis is present at other lumbar spine levels. There is also extensive high T2 and low T1 signal within the L3, and L4 vertebrae, which may represent reactive bone edema from degenerative disc disease.
1.No definite epidural spinal abscess is identified. However, the exam is limited due to lack of intravenous contrast and motion artifact.2.Postsurgical changes related to multilevel cervical laminectomy with underlying high T2 signal within the cord, likely reflecting myelomalacia associated with multilevel cervical spinal canal stenosis related to degenerative spondylosis.3.Diffuse signal abnormality in the posterior paraspinal soft tissues at the cervical spine level is likely postoperative in nature, but is otherwise nonspecific and incompletely characterized.4.Hematoma in the posterior subcutaneous tissues of the upper thoracic region.5.Degenerative spondylosis at L3-4 with mild spinal canal and neural foramen stenosis, as well as signal abnormality within the L3, and L4 vertebrae, which may represent reactive bone edema from the degenerative disc disease, although superimposed infectious discitis-osteomyelitis cannot be entirely excluded. 