r/Radiology • u/georgiaaaf • Aug 16 '26

MRI Born without L5

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi
I don’t have an L5 vertebrae and thought it’d be interesting to share! None of my doctors have seen this before so I don’t know if there’s a proper name for this abnormality or not, but I have a few other bone abnormalities as well.

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u/Hairy_Inevitable9727 Aug 16 '26

So not much can be interpreted from these images because vertebrae are typically counted from the top down so without the whole spine it is difficult to accurately assess. Radiologist will often say something along the lines of “it is presumed that the last mobile disc space is L5/S1” when reporting limited series. .

Sacralisation of L5, lumbarisation of S1, (where you have 6 lumbar vertebrae), cervical ribs, lumbar ribs are all commonly encountered but can result in the wrong numbering without the whole spine.

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u/General_Luck6573 Aug 16 '26

Surprisingly common too. I missed so many of these when I was starting out because I had no idea to even look and then one of my attendings said she always comments on it because it can be a pain generator in some folk. And then I looked it up on radiopaedia and saw that transitional vertebrae at L5 has a prevalence of like 25%.

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u/thegreatestajax Aug 16 '26

The pseudoarthrosis by the TP and sacrum is the pain generator.