• Delio Eulalio Martins, Valdeci Manoel de Oliveira, Maria Teresa de Seixas Alves, Marcelo Wajchenberg, Elcio Landim, João Carlos Belloti, Eduardo Barros Puertas, and Akira Ishida.
• Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. eulalio@mac.com
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2010 Jan 1; 128 (2): 636863-8.

Context And ObjectiveThere is controversy regarding which imaging method is best for identifying early degenerative alterations in intervertebral discs. No correlations between such methods and histological finds are presented in the literature. The aim of this study was to correlate the thickness of intervertebral discs measured on simple radiographs with the degree of degeneration seen on magnetic resonance images and the histological findings relating to nerve ends inside the discs.Design And SettingCross-sectional correlation study on the lumbar spines of human cadavers, at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, Brazil.MethodsTen lumbar spinal columns were extracted from human cadavers and subjected to magnetic resonance imaging and simple radiography. They were classified according to the degree of disc degeneration seen on magnetic resonance, and the thickness of the discs was measured on radiographs. The intervertebral discs were then extracted, embedded in paraffin and analyzed immunohistochemically with protein S100, and the nerve fibers were counted and classified.ResultsNo correlation was observed between the thickness of the intervertebral discs and the degree of degeneration seen on magnetic resonance images. Only the uppermost lumbar discs (L1/L2 and L2/L3) presented a correlation between their thickness and type I and IV nerve endings.ConclusionReduced disc thickness is unrelated to increased presence of nerve ends in intervertebral discs, or to the degree of disc degeneration.

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