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Skip lesion is a term used to describe a condition that affects an area of the body at more than one level but not necessarily adjacent segments or in a continuous line. The disease skips an area and reappears several levels away.
For example, skip lesions are present in cancer when one or two lymph nodes are affected. The next group of nodes is normal but cancer occurs further along the lymph node chain.
The same type of skip lesion can occur in the spine affected by tuberculosis (TB). The affected vertebrae may have normal vertebral bones on either side with spinal TB present several levels higher or lower.
Before whole body MRI was done, the incidence of skip lesions was thought to be about 10 per cent. Now we know it's more like 70 per cent. Whole body MRI is important in making an accurate diagnosis needed to plan the best treatment.
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