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Spinal Biopsies: Diving Deeper on the Approach

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So let's talk about spinal biopsies diving a

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little deeper into this approach.

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So it's important to understand what are the trajectories

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that we can take?

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So we talked about the pedicle is sort of nice pathway

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that is between the lamina and

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that transverse process of the spine that allows us

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to move safely as like a bridge to the

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vertebra.

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Oftentimes sites are within the

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vertebra and we can move nicely from the skin

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through the soft tissues into the

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pedicle and then transpically in to

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the vertebra and multiple needle sizes whether

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it's an 11 gauge or a 13 gauge needle.

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Okay, nice appropriately Traverse this bridge by

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this transpicular road and oftentimes

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It is thought to be the preferred approach for triple biopsies when we're

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thinking about the trans-pedicular route. It's particularly advantageous because

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there are really no vassals of note

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in this region. It really lowers the risk of seeding relative

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to other approaches as well.

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It minimize slippage because our needle itself

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can actually be lodged directly

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in this particular site.

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And then Advanced slowly into the

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vertebra.

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So what's another route that we can take in addition to the transpendicular route?

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Well, that one is the Superior or inferior Coastal

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transverse Road.

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And this is approach that's a little similar to the transpendicular approach but

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one difference the needle actually

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enters from either superiorly or inferiorly to

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the axial plane. And what it is is in relation

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to that cost or transverse joint, which

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is between the rib tubercle and

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the transverse elements tubercle.

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And so this is one that you don't need to

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drill so much partly because you're moving directly

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through this off

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axial plane when it comes to sort of

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the trans-pedicular approach you're going through

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bone that requires particularly aggressive

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use of the Mallet or if you're using a drill

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and you feel comfortable with that drilling through hard

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bone to get through but in the case of this cost of transverse

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Point, you're essentially moving through a joint.

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Off axial access in order to enter into

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the virtual body one of

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the things of notice. It's important to understand what sort of

2:25

Hardware patient has if there's any spinal fusions or

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a throw seas in general. This is something that

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may not actually be appropriate given the nature

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of diffusion the hardware that is preventing you from accessing this

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app access cost to transverse joint.

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You really need to have this gap

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between the rib and the transverse process in order

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to allow you the appropriate trajectory in

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order to enter and choose this in order to get into the

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vertebral body in question.

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So when we think about the extra particular

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route, this is an additional sign. So imagine you

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have this lesion in the vertebral body. And so where the

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two red circles are are the extra particular

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regions. And so you're going almost parallel

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just lateral to the transverse process

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directly through the paraspinal soft

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tissues muscle into the potable body.

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We need to be mindful of what are the

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anatomical structures in this region and as we'll talk about

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in one of the cases today. The lumbar artery is

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one that we want to keep in mind as I mentioned. This is

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a approach that's a little bit more lateral and

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in being more lateral we want to think about not just fun vessels,

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but we want to think about nerves and

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other things of nature that could cause neuropathies in

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the case of nerves or active leading hematomas

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in the case of the blood vessels.

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So for us those are sort of the

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three sites three

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The transpendicular the extra particular and the

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cost to transverse. So now when we're thinking about anterior lateral

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lateral rounds in the cervical spine,

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these are ones that are really not as often performed

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by Interventional Radiologists, but they're important to keep

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in mind and to know partly because we need

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to know what can be done whether this is performed by

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a neurosurgeons whether this is performed by our

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ENT surgeons or by our neuro and

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eventualists. It's something to keep in mind. This is

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one of the more common biopsy approaches for the cervical

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vertebral lesions of note. And so if a

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patient is supine you can get to this through that

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and to your lateral lateral approach most commonly

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when we're dealing with the other approaches, they would have been

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prone or semi-prone in nature. And so

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this is one of the few positions trajectories where

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we would have a patient in a supine position

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in order to achieve the biopsy, but again, not one

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that's particularly common in the hands of

4:55

most Diagnostic and Interventional radiologist, but one that we really need

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to keep in mind and of course the trans all route is something

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that is often performed by our surgical

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colleagues and may be considered and so

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if we're asked to biopsy a particular patient in knowing that this is

5:10

a route we could recommend that they be seen

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by ENT surgery for example

Report

Faculty

Mikhail CSS Higgins, MD, MPH

Director, Radiology Medical Student Clerkships; Director, ESIR

Boston University Medical Center

Tags

Spine

Oncologic Imaging

Non-infectious Inflammatory

Neoplastic

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

Interventional

Infectious

Iatrogenic

Fluoroscopy

CT

Bone & Soft Tissues