11/03/2023
MRI image features with an evident relation to low back pain: a narrative review 💡
👉 Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent health condition worldwide and responsible for the most years lived with disability, yet the etiology is often unknown. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used for treatment decision even though it is often inconclusive. There are many different image features that could relate to low back pain. Conversely, multiple etiologies do relate to spinal degeneration but do not actually cause the perceived pain.
Van der Graaf et al. conducted a brand-new narrative review to provides an overview of all possible relevant features visible on MRI images and determines their relation to LBP. Features were divided into five different categories:’discogenic’, ‘neuropathic’,’osseous’, ‘facetogenic’, and’paraspinal’, and discussed separately. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00586-023-07602-x
Based on the reported results per feature an evidence agreement (EA) score was provided, enabling the authros to compare the collected evidence of separate image features. The EA was defined as the percentage of studies that did find a relation between a feature and LBP compared to the studies that did not.
The results suggests that
👉 type I Modic changes (bone marrow oedema and vascularised fibrous tissues, 100%),
👉 disc degeneration (Pfirrmann Grade 67%),
👉 endplate defects (75%) ,
👉 disc herniation (100%) ,
👉 spinal canal stenosis (70%),
👉 nerve compression (100%), and
👉 muscle fat infiltration (67%) have the highest probability to be related to LBP.
📌 Seven out of the 29 image features showed no association (EA ≤ 33%; Modic changes type II [33%], Modic changes type III [0%], disc bulging [0%], high intensity zone [31%], disc protrusion [0%], foramen stenosis [33%], and facet fluid sign [25%]).
‼ Cave: Due to the intricate and conflicting nature of this research field, caution is warranted when drawing causal conclusions!
‼ Another important limitation of this review is the vote couting method, the auhtors used to synthesize the data. https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-12
Picture: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18287604/