• Spine · Sep 2016

    Is There An Association Between Pain and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Parameters in Patients with Lumbar Spinal Stenosis?

    • Jakob M Burgstaller, Peter J Schüffler, Joachim M Buhmann, Gustav Andreisek, Sebastian Winklhofer, Filippo Del Grande, Michèle Mattle, Florian Brunner, Georgios Karakoumis, Johann Steurer, Ulrike Held, and LSOS Study Group.
    • Horten Centre for Patient Oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
    • Spine. 2016 Sep 1; 41 (17): E1053-E1062.

    Study DesignA prospective multicenter cohort study.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify an association between pain and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).Summary Of Background DataAt present, the relationship between abnormal MRI findings and pain in patients with LSS is still unclear.MethodsFirst, we conducted a systematic literature search. We identified relationships of relevant MRI parameters and pain in patients with LSS. Second, we addressed the study question with a thorough descriptive and graphical analysis to establish a relationship between MRI parameters and pain using data of the LSS outcome study (LSOS).ResultsIn the systematic review including four papers about the associations between radiological findings in the MRI and pain, the authors of two articles reported no association and two of them did. Of the latters, only one study found a moderate correlation between leg pain measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the degree of stenosis assessed by spine surgeons. In the data of the LSOS study, we could not identify a relevant association between any of the MRI parameters and buttock, leg, and back pain, quantified by the Spinal Stenosis Measure (SSM) and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Even by restricting the analysis to the level of the lumbar spine with the most prominent radiological "stenosis," no relevant association could be shown.ConclusionDespite a thorough analysis of the data, we were not able to prove any correlation between radiological findings (MRI) and the severity of pain. There is a need for innovative "methods/techniques" to learn more about the causal relationship between radiological findings and the patients' pain-related complaints.Level Of Evidence2.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…