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from Section 2 - Spine
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
Imaging description
A limbus vertebra (LV) demonstrates separation of a segment of the rim of the vertebral body. This was first described by Schmorl in 1927 [1], and is caused by intraosseous penetration of disk material at the junction of the cartilaginous endplate and the bony rim during childhood or adolescence [2]. An oblique radiolucent defect extends from the vertebral endplate to the outer surface of the vertebral body, separating off a small segment of bone (Figure 26.1). In adults, this is typically triangular in shape and has sclerotic margins. This helps distinguish the lesion from an acute fracture. In children, the separate fragment may not be ossified, and not visible on radiographs, and only a lucent defect in the vertebral body may be evident.
Limbus vertebrae most commonly occur at the anterosuperior margin of a single lumbar vertebra [3], followed by the anteroinferior margin of a lumbar vertebra, and far less commonly at the posteroinferior corner of a lumbar vertebra or in the thoracic spine [1].
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