Posted on 19 July 2010. Tags: asymptomatic, low back pain, lumbar, magnetic resonance imaging, MRI
By Chris Faubel, MD –
Source: chirogeek.com
J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2001 Sep;83-A(9):1306-11.
The value of magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine to predict low-back pain in asymptomatic subjects : a seven-year follow-up study.
Borenstein DG, O’Mara JW Jr, Boden SD, Lauerman WC, Jacobson A, Platenberg C, Schellinger D, Wiesel SW.
Division of Rheumatology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11568190
Photo courtesy ChiroGeek.com
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In 1989, a group of sixty-seven asymptomatic individuals with no history of back pain underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine. Twenty-one subjects (31%) had an identifiable abnormality of a disc or of the spinal canal. In the current study, we investigated whether the findings on the scans of the lumbar spine that had been made in 1989 predicted the development of low-back pain in these asymptomatic subjects.
Continue Reading
Related Content:
Posted in Asymptomatic MRI, Journal Club, Lumbar spine
Posted on 18 July 2010. Tags: bulge, disc, extrusion, herniation, intervertebral disc, low back, lumbar spine, magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, pain, protrusion, spinal stenosis
By Chris Faubel, MD –
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine has undoubtedly become a valuable tool in the assessment of patients with low back and radiating lower extremity pain.
But over the years, MR has become over-utilized. Besides the excessive costs to the health care system, the findings obtained on MRI of the lumbar spine have led to a psychological stress on the patient. The misinterpretation of results by physicians and mid-level providers not familiar with the prevalence of pathology in asymptomatic individuals, has become a problem.
An MR report showing disc degeneration of the L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1 discs, minimal bulging of the L3/4 intervertebral disc, and mild facet hypertrophy of the L5/S1 facet on the right, somehow gets interpreted in the mind of the patient as, “my low back is falling apart and my discs are poking into the spine”.
Hopefully the below collection of article abstracts will solidify the evidence, and serve as a resource for physicians and other health care providers.
Related Content:
Posted in Asymptomatic MRI, Journal Club, Lumbar spine
