Fig. 3
From: Lumbar spine MRI findings in asymptomatic elite male academy footballers: a case series
(a) 17-year-old male professional footballer with no symptoms. (a) Sagittal FST2 sequence demonstrating cortical irregularity of the left L5 pars interarticularis (white arrow), suspicious for a fracture but not definitive. There is no associated bone marrow oedema, suggesting the finding is chronic. (b) 17-year-old male professional footballer with no symptoms. (b) Sagittal 3D T1 spoiled gradient echo VIBE sequence at a similar level to (a). This sequence definitively confirms the presence of a fracture line (white arrow) within the left L5 pars interarticularis, extending from the inferior to the superior cortex in keeping with a complete fracture. The fracture margins are corticated in keeping with this being a chronic ununited complete pars stress fracture (grade 4) and this is supported by the absence of bone marrow oedema on the FST2 sequence (a)