Clinical correlation of magnetic resonance imaging with symptom complex in prolapsed intervertebral disc disease: A cross-sectional double blind analysis

INTRODUCTION: Low backache (LBA) is one of the most common problems and herniated lumbar disc is one of the most commonly diagnosed abnormalities associated with LBA. Disc herniation of the same size may be asymptomatic in one patient and can lead to severe nerve root compromise in another patient. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate correlation between the clinical features of disc collapse and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) finding to determine the clinical importance of anatomical abnormalities identified by MRI technique. SUMMARY: From January 2010 to January 2012, 75 otherwise healthy patients (43 males 32 females) between the age of 19 and 55 years (average age was 44.5 years) with low back pain and predominant complaint of root pain who presented to our clinic were included in the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Proper screening was done to rule out previous spine affection and subjected to MRI. RESULTS: The results were analyzed under four headings viz. disc herniation, disc degeneration, thecal sac deformation and neural foramen effacement. All patients had a visual analog score (VAS) score more than 6. The interrater correlation coefficient kappa was calculated to be k=0.51. There were total 44 patients with herniation, 25 patients had mild, one patient had moderate degree of thecal sac deformation, 21 patients had one or more levels of foraminal effacement by the herniated tissue, 100% of the patients had disc degeneration ranging from grade 1 to 3 at different levels; and 48 patients (64%) had radiculopathy, six (8%) patients had bilateral and others had ipsilateral affection. CONCLUSION: In our study, the correlation was made between clinical findings and MRI findings. It can safely be concluded that treating physician should put more emphasis on history, clinical examination, and make the inference by these and then should correlate the clinical findings with that of MRI to reach a final diagnosis.