Neuroradiology Call Prep Cases: Cervical Prevertebral Edema (CT)

OVERVIEW

This page is dedicated to covering a very important call finding: cervical prevertebral edema. This page will specifically cover this diagnosis in the setting of making the finding on CT imaging. The cervical spine/neck is often times imaged as a part of trauma screening (such as a brain and cervical spine) but can also be imaged on other studies as well (such as a code stroke CT protocol which includes a CTA of the neck).

Prevertebral edema can be challenging to detect on CT scans, however it is an important finding to identify. On this non contrast CT scan of the cervical spine, prevertebral edeam can be seen (marked by the white arrows) on both axial (screen left) and sagittal (screen right) images. This patient also has an underlying cervical spine fracture (not well characterized on the above images) which is responsible for the noted prevertebral edema (which is post traumatic).

This page will focus primarily on non-contrast findings however will also encompass findings that can be apprecaited on post-contrast imaging as well.

WHAT IS IT EXACTLY?

Cervical prevertebral edema is a self descriptive diagnosis. It refers to abnormal fluid/edema in the prevertebral space (often involving the fat just anterior to the vertebral bodies) of the cervical spine.

CASE ARCHIVE

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Click here to open up a case archive of examples of cervical prevertebral edema on CT.

Page Updated: 07.19.24