ArticleEuropean radiology2019
Facet arthropathy evaluation: CT or MRI?
Article in European radiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comprehensive Evaluation of Facet Joints Osteoarthritis Radiological Features on Lumbar CT: A Multitask Deep Learning Approach.JOR spine · 2025Article
- Effect of Sarcopenia on the Outcomes of Radiofrequency Ablation of Medial Branch Nerves for Lumbar Facet Arthropathy in Patients Aged 60 Years and Older: A Retrospective Analysis.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Article
- A higher body mass index and increased syndesmophytes volume are associated with facet joints ankylosis on thoracic spine in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a retrospective cohort study.BMC rheumatology · 2024Article
- Automated magnetic resonance imaging-based grading of the lumbar intervertebral disc and facet joints.JOR spine · 2024Article
- A retrospective cohort study on the significance of preoperative radiological evaluation of lumbar degenerative diseases for surgical reference.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2023Article
- Deep learning for automated, interpretable classification of lumbar spinal stenosis and facet arthropathy from axial MRI.European radiology · 2023Article
- Anterior column reconstruction of the lumbar spine in the lateral decubitus position: anatomical and patient-related considerations for ALIF, anterior-to-psoas, and transpsoas LLIF approaches.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2022Article
- Evaluation of the degenerative lumbar osseous morphology using zero echo time magnetic resonance imaging (ZTE-MRI).European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2022Article
- Reliability of preoperative MRI findings in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Article
- A Predictive Clinical-Radiomics Nomogram for Differentiating Tuberculous Spondylitis from Pyogenic Spondylitis Using CT and Clinical Risk Factors.Infection and drug resistance · 2022Article
- Quantitative Radiological Characteristics of the Facet Joints in Patients with Lumbar Foraminal Stenosis.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
- A diagnostic model for differentiating tuberculous spondylitis from pyogenic spondylitis on computed tomography images.European radiology · 2021Article
- Effect of facet-joint degeneration on the in vivo motion of the lower lumbar spine.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2020Article
- Retrospective Radiographic Study of Degenerative Joint Disease in Cats: Prevalence Based on Orthogonal Radiographs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2020Article
- Patient phenotyping for molecular profiling of neck and low back pain - Study protocol.Neurobiology of pain (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the reliability of lumbar facet arthropathy evaluation with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with and without lumbar disc prosthesis and to estimate the reliability for individual CT and MRI findings indicating facet arthropathy.
methodsMetal-artifact reducing CT and MRI protocols were performed at follow-up of 114 chronic back pain patients treated with (n = 66) or without (n = 48) lumbar disc prosthesis. Three experienced radiologists independently rated facet joint space narrowing, osteophyte/hypertrophy, erosions, subchondral cysts, and total grade facet arthropathy at each of the three lower lumbar levels on both CT and MRI, using Weishaupt et al's rating system. CT and MRI examinations were randomly mixed and rated independently. Findings were dichotomized before analysis. Overall kappa and (due to low prevalence) prevalence- and bias-adjusted kappa were calculated to assess interobserver agreement.
resultsInterobserver agreement on total grade facet arthropathy was moderate at all levels with CT (kappa 0.47-0.48) and poor to fair with MRI (kappa 0.20-0.32). Mean prevalence- and bias-adjusted kappa was lower for osteophyte/hypertrophy versus other individual findings (CT 0.58 versus 0.79-0.86, MRI 0.35 versus 0.81-0.90), higher with CT versus MRI when rating osteophyte/hypertrophy (0.58 versus 0.35) and total grade facet arthropathy (0.54 versus 0.31), and generally similar at levels with versus levels without disc prosthesis.
conclusionInterobserver agreement on facet arthropathy was moderate with CT and better with CT than with MRI. Disc prosthesis did not influence agreement. A more reliable grading of facet arthropathy requires a more consistent evaluation of osteophytes/hypertrophy. KEY POINTS: • In this study, interobserver agreement on facet arthropathy (FA) severity-based on facet joint space narrowing, osteophyte/hypertrophy, erosions, and subchondral cysts-was better with CT versus MRI. • Metal-artifact reducing CT and MRI protocols helped to improve visibility and maintain agreement when evaluating severity of FA at levels with metallic disc prosthesis. • Agreement was poorer for severity of osteophytes/hypertrophy than for the other evaluated FA findings; improved agreement on total grade FA evaluated with CT or MRI thus requires more consistent grading of osteophytes/hypertrophy between different radiologists.
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