ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2019
New insights into the natural course and clinical relevance of Modic changes over 2 years following lumbar limited discectomy: analysis of prospective collected data.
Article in 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, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- A new hernia blocking system to prevent recurrent lumbar disc herniation: surgical technique, intraoperative findings and six-months post-operative outcomes.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 · 2025Trial
- Prevalence of modic changes in patients with low back pain and association with degenerative spinal findings: a retrospective MRI study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Characteristics of endplate changes in patients with lumbar disc herniation treated by discectomy and their effects on clinical symptoms during one-year postoperative follow-up.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 · 2025Article
- Postoperative Time Course of Avulsion-Type Herniation Focused on the Development of New Modic Changes and Their Effect on Short-Term Residual Low Back Pain.Global spine journal · 2025Article
- Development of Modic Changes After Percutaneous Endoscopic Transforaminal Lumbar Discectomy: From Risk Analysis to Prediction Modeling.Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- The effects of lumbar fusion and non-fusion surgery on the development of Modic changes.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2022Article
- Comparison of Percutaneous Transforaminal Endoscopic Decompression and Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion in the Treatment of Single-Level Lumbar Disc Herniation with Modic Type I Changes.Journal of pain research · 2021Article
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European spine journal review: a survey of the "surgical and research" articles in European spine journal, 2019.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 · 2020Review
- Modic changes - An evidence-based, narrative review on its patho-physiology, clinical significance and role in chronic low back pain.Journal of clinical orthopaedics and traumaArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeFew retrospective studies have addressed Modic changes (MC) following lumbar spine surgery, though it is usually assumed that MC increase in grade and incidence. To test this conventional wisdom, we investigated the natural course of MC following primary lumbar limited discectomy with two-year follow-up. In addition, a possible clinical relevance to those changes was assessed.
methodsThe data of the control group (278 subjects) of a prospective randomized, controlled trial (RCT) were evaluated retrospectively.
resultsWe did not observe a simple increase in MC with regard to grade. There is variable activity observed in Type 2 (at 12 months) and in Type 1 (at 24 months). Conversion from one grade to another may occur and may be upward or downward. The incidence of MC increased slightly over time, as after surgery a decreasing percentage of the study group remained without MC over two years (1 year: 34% (85/250); 2 years: 30% (72/237)). Radiological parameters (rotation, translation, and spondylolisthesis) had no significant correlation to MC or MC subtypes. Lastly, we found that neither the different MC types nor their changes were correlated with clinical parameters (VAS back, VAS leg, ODI score) preoperatively or during follow-up.
conclusionThe pattern of Modic changes following lumbar limited discectomy is complex, not simply increasing. There is variable activity in MC Types 1 and 2 at the different time points of follow-up, and conversion from a higher grader to a lower one or vice versa is possible. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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Registered trials
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