Figure 3.

Inflammatory and fat lesions on MRI of the spine.

MRI of the lumbar and lower thoracic spine in 27-year-old male shows multiple tiny foci of infiltration of fat in the posterior corners of vertebral bodies on the T1-weighted sequence (A; arrows). On the short tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequence (B), these discs demonstrate no evidence of degeneration of the nucleus pulposis or tear of the annulus fibrosus, which is consistent with a postinflammatory cause of the marrow fat deposition rather than trauma or degenerative disc disease. Also note the solitary focus of inflammation on STIR imaging with increased signal at the anterosuperior corner of T10 (arrowhead). The appearance is typical for a corner inflammatory lesion (CIL) associated with spondyloarthritis (i.e. a triangular shaped lesion which may or may not (as in this case) be quite as bright in the extreme corner, with adjacent normal nucleus pulposus).