Fig 1. Motor vehicle crash involving 31-year-old man. Images demonstrate signal intensity–to-noise measurement technique used in assessing the abnormal signal intensity in the acute T12 compression fracture (arrows).

A, T1-weighted image.

B, T2-weighted image.

C, In-phase image.

D, Opposed-phase image. Region of interest cursor is on the region of abnormal signal intensity on the T1- and T2-weighted images. SIR is 0.76, indicating the presence of fat or benign marrow. Note the suppression of signal intensity from the normal fatty marrow in the adjacent vertebra.