PMC1602184_01
T 2 weighted Sagital MRI of the lumbar spine (left) demonstrates the wooden piece as an area of low signal intensity (arrow) within the soft tissues, extending into the spinal canal with an area of high signal in the cord above. T 2 weighted axial MRI (right) shows the wooden piece to have penetrated the theca on the left side
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Fig1
She was transferred to the Neurosurgical unit and a MRI scan of the thoracolumbar region (Fig. 1) was taken.
Per-operative view (left) demonstrates the wooden piece within the spinal canal (arrows) with size of the multiple wooden fragments demonstrated (right)
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Fig2
At surgery, the spinous process and right hemilamina of L 2 were noted to be fractured and multiple wooden fragments were found to have entered the spinal canal (Fig. 2) penetrating the dura in the midline causing contusion and division of some of the nerve roots of the conus.