Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation of Lumbar Disc Degenerative Disease Presenting with Low Back Pain in a Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Introduction: Lumbar disc degeneration is the most common cause of low back pain, which affects middle-aged people. Low back pain with radiculopathy is a significant burden to patients and the health care system. Magnetic resonance imaging is found to be highly effective in demonstrating changes in disc degeneration. This study aimed to evaluate the different magnetic resonance imaging features, involvement patterns, extent and changes of lumbar degenerative disease in a tertiary care centre.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging in a tertiary care centre after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board. Convenience sampling technique was used. Data of patients who presented to our hospital from 14 April 2020 to 14 April 2023 with low back pain and underwent magnetic resonance imaging on 1.5 Tesla Philips scanners were included. Data were entered and analyzed in Microsoft Excel 2016.

Results: In this study, degenerative disc disease was commonly encountered at 40–60 (35.10%) years of age and affected more males (57.97%) than females. In this study a total of 432-disc involvement was seen in the form of desiccation, the most common level involved was found to be L4-L5 177 (40.971%) followed by L5-S1 108 (25%). Facet arthropathy was the next common finding with 148 (43.02%) occurring at the L4-L5 level.

Conclusions: Most degenerative changes were seen in L4-5 and L5-S1 with the craniocaudal pattern of disease. The findings of this study were in concordance with other studies.