The frequency of modic changes in lumbosacral spine in patients with low back pain

Objective: to find the frequency of modic changes in lumbosacral spine in patients with low back pain. study design: cross sectional study. place and duration of study: deptt. of radiology cmh lahore,from 26th oct 2011 to 26th april 2012. methodology: all patients of low back pain fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) was performed after taking informed written consent in department of radiology,cmh lahore. lumbar mri was performed with standard protocol on a 1.5t mrisystem (philips closed mri). all individuals were placed supine with straight legs in a psoas-tight position in order to imitate the upright lumbar lordosis. the imaging protocol consisted of one scanogram and four imaging sequences which were sagittal t1-weighted,sagittal t2-weighted,axial t1-weighted and axial t2- weighted images. presence or absence of modic changes was evaluated. if present,type i,type ii or type iii was determined. spss version 16 was applied to analyze the data. mean and standard deviation was presented for age. frequency and percentage were presented for gender,positive mri scans and type of modic changes in positive scans. results: a total of 200 patients were included in our study out of which 148(74%) were males and 52(26%) were females. age of the patients ranged from 18 to 65 years. out of total of 200 mri scans,results of 162(81%) were positive for radiological findings. modic type ii changes were seen in 94(47%),modic type i in 18(9%) and modic type iii in 6(3%) patients. many patients showed mixed type of modic changes constituting type i & ii or ii & iii. two patients showed all three types of changes in lumbosacral spine. conclusion: modic changes are dynamic markers of the normal age-related degenerative process affecting the lumbar spine. the most common modic change is type ii and the most frequently involved level is the l5 / s1 in our population.