Abstract

Background: Low back pain is a common cause of morbidity in all individuals. An accurate diagnosis regarding the type and extent of pathology is essential for operative as well as non operative treatment. The most widely used diagnostic modality to asses backpain are X-ray and MRI. X-ray though inaccurate, is cheap and readily available along with the drawback of ionizing radiation and less soft tissue detailing. MRI has now been accepted as the best imaging modality for non invasive, non ionizing evaluation of low back pain.
Methods: This is Prospective study, In a tertiary care hospital, symptomatic patient who were referred from various referral hospitals and units, with history of back pain were referred to Department of Radiodiagnosis, NMCH, Patna. Patients: 100 patients with backpain who underwent MRI were selected for study Period Two years. Investigation, clinical examination and X-ray were performed and findings compared with MRI.
Results: Result: Of the total 100 patients evaluated, most of the spine changes were of degenerative type, of which disc degeneration was major cause of backpain. Lumbar spine was more significant in involvement than thoracic spine in the study group and also among the genders females had higher preponderance with correlation of findings, found a higher incidence in 4th decade of life.
Conclusion: From these observations we find that MRI is a superior, non invasive, radiation free imaging modality with multiplanar capability and excellent soft tissue delineation. It can accurately detect, localize and characterize various derangements of the spine and help in arriving at a correct anatomical diagnosis there by guiding further management of the patients.