MRI cervical spine findings in asymptomatic fighter pilots

MRI of the cervical spine for evaluation concerning degenerative lesions wa s performed on asymptomatic experienced military high performance aircraft pilots (mean age 42 yr with mean accumulated flying time of 2600 h), and fo r comparison on age-matched controls without military flying experience. Yo ung military high performance aircraft pilots (mean age 23 yr with 220 h of flying per person) were also examined. There were significantly more osteo phytes, disk protrusions, compressions of the spinal cord and foraminal ste noses in the experienced pilots than in the age-matched controls. Low frequ ency of low grade degenerative lesions was found in the young and inexperie nced pilots.