This week, the Law Firm of Martin & Wallentine hosted a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) at their law firm. The guest speaker was Dr. Richard Snow from Choice of Health. He helped the lawyers and a paralegal further understand soft tissue injuries and disc problems.
He discussed how Acute verse Chronic disc pathologies can be determined in the medically accepted Pfirrmann Grading Scale. When looking at cases to determine if there are acute injuries or chronic injuries from MVC, we must consider if a disc degenerative in nature. The criteria for disc degeneration is basic components: 1. loss of disc height, 2. production of osteophytes, and 3. disc dessication. In an acute injury, the vertebral disc may appear on MRI as having dessication, but is a result of the disc material spread out beyond normal limits. The Pfirrmann grading system is the most widely known and used system for classifying a generative disc level. This system is excellent to use for cases because the intra- and inter-observer agreement is excellent.
Thank you Dr. Snow for the great insight to better assist our clients injured in auto accidents or otherwise. As personal injury attorneys, it is imperative that we use all our resources to help jurors see the truth about how devastating an injury can be.