Development of normalized quantitative measures of lumbar disc degeneration.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lumbar disc degeneration (DD) is widely regarded as a likely contributor to low back pain (LBP), but the association between DD and LBP is relatively weak. No known studies have normalized quantitative measures of DD severity relative to multiple variables such as age, height, and disc level. This study developed normalized quantitative measures (z-scores) of disc signal intensity (DSI) and disc height (DH) to rate relative severity of DD.

Methods

Raw (unnormalized) quantitative measures of DSI and DH alongside potential normalization variables were acquired from MRI scans and clinical data of 76 patients. The associations between the raw quantitative measures and potential normalization variables were investigated to develop the normalized quantitative measures (

SUBMITTER: King S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10540817 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature