• Mari Kuisma, Jaro Karppinen, Marianne Haapea, Eveliina Lammentausta, Jaakko Niinimäki, and Osmo Tervonen.
• Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Kajaanintie 50, 90029 Oulu, Finland. mari.kuisma@fimnet.fi
• Skeletal Radiol. 2009 Feb 1; 38 (2): 141-7.

ObjectiveThis paper aims to evaluate the presence of endplate sclerosis in different types of Modic changes and to assess the capability of MRI in detecting endplate sclerosis within these changes.Materials And MethodsThe lumbar spines (L3-S1) of 70 patients were retrospectively reviewed to determine Modic changes and disc degeneration from MRI and endplate sclerosis from CT. T1- and T2-weighted signal intensity and Hounsfield unit (HU) measurements of type I and II Modic changes were recorded and the association of both Modic types I and II with endplate sclerosis was analyzed with a Mann-Whitney test.ResultsAltogether 82 Modic changes in 36 subjects were recorded: 13% were type I, 12% mixed type I/II, 65% type II, 9% mixed type II/III, and 1% type III. Thirty-eight percent of the endplates with Modic changes had sclerosis in CT. Of specific Modic types, mixed I/II and II/III associated significantly with endplate sclerosis. Endplate sclerosis was not detected in MRI in a quantitative analysis.ConclusionEndplate sclerosis exists in all types of Modic changes, especially in mixed Modic types, and not only in type III changes, as previously assumed. Endplate sclerosis was not detected in MRI, which may depend on the amount of mineralization of the bone marrow.

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