ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2023
ISSLS PRIZE in Clinical Science 2023: comparison of degenerative MRI features of the intervertebral disc between those with and without chronic low back pain. An exploratory study of two large female populations using automated annotation.
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, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physiological Ageing of the Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a Systematic Literature Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Transparent, Reproducible Text-Based Phenotyping of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration from 500 Consecutive MRI Reports, with a Pre-Specified Image Analysis Framework.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Human In Vivo Disc Mechanics in Flexion, Extension, and Diurnal Loading With Aging and Degeneration.JOR spine · 2026Article
- Age-referenced modeling of lumbar disc degeneration and its association with chronic low back pain: an MRI-based cross-sectional study.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 · 2026Article
- Relationship of disc degeneration after pubertal growth spurt to future low back pain: a longitudinal cohort study.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 · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Features of Discogenic Low Back Pain: A Narrative Review and Suggested Areas for Future Research and Clinical Practice.JOR spine · 2026Review
- Association of preoperative co-occurring intervertebral disc-related degenerative features with one-year lumbar discectomy outcomes: A proposal for and preliminary testing of a novel MRI-based criterion.European journal of radiology open · 2026Article
- Adjacent segment degeneration may predict significantly worse leg pain outcomes after lumbar discectomy.Skeletal radiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Age predicts therapeutic outcome of imaging-guided sacroiliac joint injections, whereas osteoarthritis grade does not: A retrospective single-center study.Acta radiologica open · 2026Article
- SpineScan: a deep learning model for lumbar spine MRI annotation and Pfirrmann grading assessment.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 · 2026Article
- Intelligence Architectures and Machine Learning Applications in Contemporary Spine Care.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Effective disc age: a statistical model for age-dependent and level-specific lumbar disc degeneration using magnetic resonance imaging (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 · 2025Article
- T2 mapping and q-Dixon for assessment of intervertebral disc degeneration in lower back pain.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Risk factors for poor neurological recovery after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: imaging characteristics.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Article
- Don't Throw the 'Bio' out of the Bio-Psycho-Social Model: Editorial for Spine Rehabilitation in 2022 and Beyond.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe relationship of degeneration to symptoms has been questioned. MRI detects apparently similar disc degeneration and degenerative changes in subjects both with and without back pain. We aimed to overcome these problems by re-annotating MRIs from asymptomatic and symptomatics groups onto the same grading system.
methodsWe analysed disc degeneration in pre-existing large MRI datasets. Their MRIs were all originally annotated on different scales. We re-annotated all MRIs independent of their initial grading system, using a verified, rapid automated MRI annotation system (SpineNet) which reported degeneration on the Pfirrmann (1-5) scale, and other degenerative features (herniation, endplate defects, marrow signs, spinal stenosis) as binary present/absent. We compared prevalence of degenerative features between symptomatics and asymptomatics.
resultsPfirrmann degeneration grades in relation to age and spinal level were very similar for the two independent groups of symptomatics over all ages and spinal levels. Severe degenerative changes were significantly more prevalent in discs of symptomatics than asymptomatics in the caudal but not the rostral lumbar discs in subjects < 60 years. We found high co-existence of degenerative features in both populations. Degeneration was minimal in around 30% of symptomatics < 50 years.
conclusionsWe confirmed age and disc level are significant in determining imaging differences between asymptomatic and symptomatic populations and should not be ignored. Automated analysis, by rapidly combining and comparing data from existing groups with MRIs and information on LBP, provides a way in which epidemiological and 'big data' analysis could be advanced without the expense of collecting new groups. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE I: Diagnostic: individual cross-sectional studies with consistently applied reference standard and blinding.
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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.