A prospective study for evaluation of degenerative changes in lumbar spine by MRI in Rajsamand

Abstract

Background: The main objective of this study was to evaluate lumbar spine degeneration with the help of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in an asymptomatic patient and to provide baseline data on the pattern of degeneration to understand how the lumbar spine ages.
Materials and Methods: This study was a prospective cohort study of 150 patients carried out at the Department of Radiology, Ananta Institute Of Medical Sciences, Rajsamand, Rajasthan, who underwent lumbar spine MRI for lower back pain. The scans consisted of
sagittal and axial T1-weighted and T2-weighted turbo spin-echo and STIR images. The correlation between age and the pattern of lumbar spine degeneration was evaluated.
Results: The average number of degenerated disc levels significantly increased with patient’s age. In the female patient’s group, lumbar spine degeneration was observed in significantly older patients and those with a higher BMI than the male patients. MRI findings showed that the prevalence of various degenerative patterns was more common among male patients. Only disc herniation and canal stenosis were common among female patients; however, there was no statistically significant comparison between them.
Conclusion: The degenerative changes in the lumbar disc can appear as early as 21-40 years. Degenerative changes in the lumbar spine increase with age, being more common among male than female patients. As age advances, the prevalence of degenerative changes in multiple levels is also found. The aetiology of these changes reported explicitly in the younger age group needs to be investigated further.