Incidental vertebral compression fractures in imaging studies: Lessons not learned by radiologists.

To assess radiologists reporting rates of incidental vertebral compression fractures in imaging studies.We performed a review of the current literature on the prevalence and reporting rates of incidental vertebral compression fractures in radiologic examinations.The bibliographic search revealed 12 studies: 7 studies using conventional radiology and 5 using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). The loss of height cut-off to define a vertebral fracture varied from 15\% to 25\%. Fracture prevalence was high (mean 21.1\%; range 9.5\%-35\%) in both radiographic and MDCT studies (mean 21.6\% and 20.2\%, respectively). Reporting rates were low with a mean value of 27.4\% (range 0\%-66.3\%) and were significantly lower in MDCT than in radiographic studies (mean 8.1\% vs 41.1\%). Notably, recent studies showed lower reporting rates than older studies.Many scientific studies have confirmed a high prevalence of vertebral compression fractures as incidental findings on imaging studies. However, the underreporting of these fractures, as determined in our study, may negatively affect patient care.