TY - JOUR T1 - Imaging of Back Pain in Children JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. SP - 787 LP - 802 DO - 10.3174/ajnr.A1832 VL - 31 IS - 5 AU - D.P. Rodriguez AU - T.Y. Poussaint Y1 - 2010/05/01 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/31/5/787.abstract N2 - SUMMARY: While back pain presents less frequently in children than in adults, it still poses a significant clinical challenge with respect to making a firm diagnosis and developing an effective treatment plan. When children have back pain and medical attention is sought, an underlying pathology is usually suspected. Pediatric patients are evaluated, first, with a complete clinical history and examination and, second, by an imaging work-up that is based on initial findings, including the child's age and size, signs and symptoms, and suspected etiology. This article describes 1) the epidemiology of back pain in children, 2) the imaging work-up used, and 3) the correlation of imaging findings with disease entities that may cause back pain in the pediatric patient. The list of diseases giving rise to back pain is not meant to be exhaustive but rather reflective of the most commonly identified pathologies and disorders among young children and adolescents, from athletic injuries to lethal cancers. ALARAas low as reasonably achievableESRerythrocyte sedimentation rateFSEfast spin-echo18Ffluorine 18LCHLangerhans cell histiocytosisLDHlactate dehydrogenaseMBPmechanical back painPETpositron-emission tomographyRFAradio-frequency ablationSPECTsingle-photon emission computed tomographySTIRshort tau inversion recovery99mTc-MDPtechnetium 99m methylene diphosphonateWHOWorld Health Organization ER -