MRI-based degeneration grades for lumbar facet joints do not correlate with cartilage mechanics.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lumbar facet joint arthritis is characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage, loss of joint spacing, and increased boney spur formation. These signs of facet joint degeneration have been previously measured using destructive biochemical and mechanical analysis. Nondestructive clinical evaluation of the facet joint has also been performed using MRI scoring, which ranks the health of the facet joint using the Fujiwara scale. However, nondestructive clinical evaluation of facet joint arthritis using standard MRI scoring provides low resolution images which result in high interobserver variability. Therefore, to assess the accuracy of nondestructive MRI analysis with regard to the health of the facet joint, this study determined whether any correlations existed betwe

SUBMITTER: Middendorf JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10285760 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature