Discography, also called 'provocative disk injection', has been used as a diagnostic modality for spine pain since the middle of the 20th century. This article summarizes the beliefs in lumbar and cervical discography.
Risks of discography include discitis, neurologic and visceral injury, dye reactions, and spinal headache. Spinal cord injury, vascular injury, prevertebral abscess, and subdural empyema have been reported post-discography.
Plain radiographs of the spine can identify deformity, most fractures, destructive lesions, spondylolisthesis, and spondolytic changes but are less sensitive for soft tissues.
The Ortelius800® system instantaneously creates a graphical reconstruction of the spine, displaying calculated angle of deformity (Cobb angle), leg length discrepancy, and data on the patient's torso in real time.