MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN VERTEBRAL B ODY COLLAPSE DUE TO PRIMARYAMYLOIDOSIS

Primary systemic amyloidosis is a rare cause of vertebral collapse. We describe a patient who presented multiplecollapsed vertebrae. Magneti c resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a diffuse bone marrow abnormali ty. A diffuse low signal throughout the vertebral bodies on T1 and T2 weighted spin-echo images were observed. A bone biopsy confirmed the s uspected diagnosis of vertebral involvementby amyloid. MR imaging can be of interest to evaluate the bone spreading of a known amyloidosis a nd to help in the diagnosis of amyloidosis in the case of non traumati cal vertebral fractures.