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Through a survey sent to 186 academic departments of radiology, the authors sought to determine patterns of spinal pain management injections by neuroradiologists. Twenty-one percent of surveys were completed showing that over 50% of departments were involved in this type of procedure with the number of procedures remaining stable during the past 5 years in most locations. The majority of referrals came from orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and neurologists. The most common procedures were epidural steroid injections, nerve root blocks, facet injections, and synovial cyst aspirations. Most fellows and more than 50% of residents were considered to have achieved proficiency in these procedures during their training.

In this study the feasibility of using dynamic postcontrast imaging to separate hypo- and hypervascular spine metastases was assessed. Using a T1 postcontrast sequence with temporal resolution of 6 seconds, the authors imaged spine lesions in 26 patients and from the data collected calculated 3 dynamic parameters. Hypervascular lesions showed steeper and higher wash-in slopes and higher peak enhancement. Conversely, conventional pre- and postcontrast images were unable to differentiate lesions.