Bertolotti Syndrome in the Emergency Department

A lumbosacral transitional vertebra is a congenital variant in which the lowest lumbar vertebra articulates or fuses with the sacrum. When that variant becomes painful, the condition is known as Bertolotti syndrome. Low back pain is the fifth most common reason for presentation to Australian emergency departments, and Australian emergency guidance directs clinicians away from imaging and opioids for non-specific low back pain. That pathway suits most patients, including the patient with Berto…