The postsurgical lumbosacral spine - Magnetic resonance imaging evaluationfollowing intervertebral disk surgery, surgical decompression, intervertebral bony fusion, and spinal instrumentation

One of the most challenging areas of diagnosis is to be found in acquiring and interpreting medical images in the patient who has undergone lumbosacra l surgery for spinal degenerative disease. The sections of this article ill ustrate the features of expected and abnormal postsurgical spinal imaging. These discussions provide the background, practical information, and graphi c examples necessary to enable the medical imaging physician to approach be tter the clinicoradiologic evaluation of the postsurgical patient.