"There is some debate about aetiology. Hypotheses range from spinal (stress) fractures to a local delay in the ankylosing process compared to adjacent levels resulting in the last mobile segment."
"There is no consensus regarding the management of these lesions and especially when to perform a surgical intervention."
"Radiography depicts irregularities and erosions of the vertebral endplates that are not related to the anterior or posterior edge but rather to the central portion; such findings are now known to be late features of spondyloarthritis."
"On MR imaging, these lesions are depicted as disc-related signal intensity abnormalities of one or both vertebral halves of a discovertebral unit; they appear hyperintense on STIR images and hypointense on T1-weighted images, where they are often hemispherically shaped. Lines of increased signal intensity may be seen at the interface between the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus or within the latter in early disease."
"History and etymology"