586 THE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY Diagnosis of Vertebral Fractures A COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY, CONVENTIONAL TOMOGRAPHY, AND COMPUTED AXIAL TOMOGRAPHY*

ABSTRACT: Thirty patients with acute thoracic, lumbar, or thoracolumbar fractures, dislocations, or fracture-dislocations were evaluated with standard radiographs, conventional polytomography, and corn-puterized axial tomography. The resulting ninety studies were coded, randomized, and independently in-terpreted by three radiologists. The diagnostic accu-racy of the interpretations based on the computerized tomography scans combined with standard radio-graphs equaled that of the interpretations based on just the tornograms in the evaluation of fractures of poste-nor elements. In addition, computerized tomography was superior to the other methods in demonstrating impingement on the neural canal as well as injuries to other organ systems. Also, when compared with con