AI Article Synopsis
- Low back pain (LBP) is often the primary reason patients undergo MRI of the lumbosacral spine, yet the specific impact of soft tissues like muscles on LBP severity remains unclear.
- In a study involving 94 patients, MRI scans and symptom questionnaires were used to analyze the correlation between muscle conditions and pain intensity, revealing that a larger psoas muscle area was linked to lower pain ratings and that higher BMI was associated with more severe pain.
- The findings suggest that the health of paravertebral and psoas muscles plays a crucial role in LBP, potentially guiding future research and treatment strategies to enhance patient quality of life.
Article Abstract
Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the most frequent indication to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of the lumbosacral spine. The individual role of soft tissues, including muscles, on LBP is not fully understood and the contribution of each MRI-derived parameter of soft tissues status on the intensity of LBP has not been investigated in detail.
Methods: The study design was observational retrospective, single center carried out at a University Hospital. Images were acquired using a using a 1.5 Tesla scanner. Patients completed a symptom questionnaire and rated their pain intensity using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The VAS scores were categorized as mild, moderate, and severe using cutoff values of 3.8 and 5.7, based on the literature. Biometric data, including weight and height, were also recorded to calculate the body mass index (BMI). The ratios between intramuscular fat infiltration and net muscle area were also calculated. Patient sample included 94 patients with LBP underwent MRI of the lumbosacral spine.
Results: The stepwise analysis revealed that increasing psoas net area was associated with lower VAS levels (odds ratio [OR]: 0.94: 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90-0.98; p=.005), and an increase of one square centimeter of total psoas area resulted in a greater probability of reporting a mild (+1.21%; 95% CI: 0.37, 2.05%) or a moderate VAS (+0.40%; 95% CI: -0.02, 0.82%), Furthermore, a more severe VAS was associated with a higher BMI (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.00-1.27).
Conclusion: Our study demonstrates a relationship between LBP and MRI parameters of paravertebral and psoas muscles status. The psoas muscle is extremely important for spine stabilization and is linked to clinical symptoms of patients affected by LBP. These findings could contribute to future studies and improve treatment options in patients with LBP, possibly reducing the impact on disability, quality of life and socioeconomical burden.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11214412 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xnsj.2024.100326 | DOI Listing |
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