Trial reportEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2021
The catastrophization effects of an MRI report on the patient and surgeon and the benefits of 'clinical reporting': results from an RCT and blinded trials.
Trial report 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, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Characteristics and Effectiveness of Interventions That Target the Reporting, Communication, or Clinical Interpretation of Lumbar Imaging Findings: A Systematic Review.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2022Pooled it
- The Effect of Information on the Time Course of Pain During an Episode of Acute Experimentally Induced Low Back Pain-A Randomised Experiment.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Trial
- Effects of X-ray-based diagnosis and explanation of knee osteoarthritis on patient beliefs about osteoarthritis management: A randomised clinical trial.PLoS medicine · 2025Trial
- The association between individual radiographic findings and improvement after chiropractic spinal manipulation and home exercise among older adults with back-related disability: a secondary analysis.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Trial
- Reattribution to Mind-Brain Processes and Recovery From Chronic Back Pain: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Short-Term Effect of Negative Verbal Language Versus Positive Verbal Language on Physical and Functional Capacity and Pain in People With Chronic Primary Low Back Pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Cyberchondria in the Spinal Surgery Pathway: A Scoping Review of its Impact on Preoperative Distress and Postoperative Pain Outcomes.Global spine journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Explainable AI reveals tissue pathology and psychosocial drivers of opioid prescription for non-specific chronic low back pain.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Pain Neuroscience Education on Reducing Opioid Dependency in African American and Caucasian Populations: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Evaluating musculoskeletal imaging communication interventions using behavioural science: a scoping review using the COM-B model.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Enhancing treatment decision-making for low back pain: a novel framework integrating large language models with retrieval-augmented generation technology.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- [Unhelpful believes about pain. Brief pain advice in primary care].Atencion primaria · 2024Article
- Article
- Incidental findings on MRI for the evaluation of endometriosis: prevalence and clinical significance.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Are there any correlations among the number of discopathy levels and pain intensity or disability in patients with symptomatic low back pain?Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
- Availability, Quality, and Evidence-Based Content of mHealth Apps for the Treatment of Nonspecific Low Back Pain in the German Language: Systematic Assessment.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Review
- Article
- Low Back Pain Patients' Perceptions Regarding Their Own Radiology Reports: Pre-Intervention Survey.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeInappropriate use of MRI leads to increasing interventions and surgeries for low back pain (LBP). We probed the potential effects of a routine MRI report on the patient's perception of his spine and functional outcome of treatment. An alternate 'clinical reporting' was developed and tested for benefits on LBP perception.
methodsIn Phase-I, 44 LBP patients were randomized to Group A who had a factual explanation of their MRI report or Group B, who were reassured that the MRI findings showed normal changes. The outcome was compared at 6 weeks by VAS, PSEQ-2, and SF-12. In Phase-II, clinical reporting was developed, avoiding potential catastrophizing terminologies. In Phase-III, 20 MRIs were reported by both routine and clinical methods. The effects of the two methods were tested on four categories of health care professionals (HCP) who read them blinded on their assessment of severity of disease, possible treatment required, and the probability of surgery.
resultsBoth groups were comparable initial by demographics and pain. After 6 weeks of treatment, Group A had a more negative perception of their spinal condition, increased catastrophization, decreased pain improvement, and poorer functional status(p = significant for all). The alternate method of clinical reporting had significant benefits in assessment of lesser severity of the disease, shift to lesser severity of intervention and surgery in three groups of HCPs.
conclusionRoutine MRI reports produce a negative perception and poor functional outcomes in LBP. Focussed clinical reporting had significant benefits, which calls for the need for 'clinical reporting' rather than 'Image reporting'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.