Interpretation of the cause of transverse line shadows above the vertebral body base plate

Attention is drawn to line shadows occurring occasionally in the X-ray image above the base plates of the vertebral bodies. These line shadows can be interpreted correctly only in the tomogram. This shows that there are indentations in the area of the base plates or that these indentations, if already present, are deeper than was to be expected on studying the X-ray. The tomographically detected or particularly deep indentations are due to excess strain being exerted on the presently still unstable juvenile vertebral column. (orig.)