SynthesisSkeletal radiology2021
Frequency of pertinent MRI abnormalities of the sacroiliac joints of patients without spondyloarthropathies: a systematic review of the literature.
Synthesis in Skeletal radiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sacroiliac joint bone marrow edema as a biomechanical barometer: insights from the "natural experiment" of osteonecrosis of the femoral head.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Prevalence of sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance enterography in Crohn's disease and its association with intestinal findings: a monocentric observational cross-sectional study.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2025Observational
- Infectious sacroiliitis: MRI- and CT-based assessment of disease extent, complications, and anatomic correlation.Skeletal radiology · 2024Article
- Frequency and anatomic distribution of magnetic resonance imaging lesions in the sacroiliac joints of spondyloarthritis and non-spondyloarthritis patients.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2022Article
- Main Diagnostic Pitfalls in Reading the Sacroiliac Joints on MRI.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionMRI criteria are central to the diagnosis of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthropathy (nr-axSpA). The cardinal feature of nr-axSpa is inflammatory low back pain, which may be difficult to distinguish from highly prevalent non-specific low back pain. This study aims to determine the frequency of relevant MRI findings in the sacroiliac joints (SIJ) of patients without Spondyloarthropathy (SpA), and therefore estimate the specificity of MRI scans for SpA.
methodsEMBASE and Medline were searched and limited to English. Titles were screened for relevance, with studies that included primary MRI findings in patients without SpA triggering retrieval. Retrieved papers were reviewed, data extracted by two authors and quality criteria (QUADAS 2) were applied. Findings were considered for asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals.
resultsThe search recovered 2172 articles. Abstracts of 117 were reviewed for full text retrieval, 11 papers met eligibility criteria. These papers described MRI findings of 1180 asymptomatic patients and 1318 with low back symptoms but without SpA. In relevant populations, bone marrow oedema was found in 22% (95% CI 19-25) of asymptomatic and 20% (95% CI 18-22) of asymptomatic individuals. In all non-Spa patients, sclerosis was found in 13.4% and erosions in 6.5%.
conclusionsThere is a significant frequency of diagnostically pertinent MRI abnormalities in the SIJ of patients without SpA. These are present in both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. Findings, such as oedema and sclerosis, lack specificity and should be interpreted with caution. Erosions are less frequent and are likely more specific for SpA.
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