ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2024
Inter-software and inter-threshold reliability of quantitative paraspinal muscle segmentation.
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, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Automatability and validity of methods for the quantification of intra-/Intermuscular adipose tissue in conventional MRI: a systematic review.BMC medical imaging · 2025Pooled it
- PVMQ score: a novel imaging parameter for indicating lumbar degeneration and prognosis in patients with L4/5 degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis.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
- Quality of lumbar paraspinal muscles in patients with chronic low back pain and its relationship to pain duration, pain intensity, and quality of life.European radiology · 2025Article
- Association between lumbar paraspinal muscle activities and quality in chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional analysis.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
- Magnetic resonance imaging-based bone and muscle quality parameters for predicting clinical subsequent vertebral fractures after percutaneous vertebral augmentation.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Paraspinal Muscle Fat Infiltration and Clinical Efficacy Following Single-Level UBD-TLIF versus MIS-TLIF: A Retrospective MRI-Based Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- MRI-based assessment paraspinal extensor muscle fatty infiltration in acute cervical spinal cord injury patients - a retrospective study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Comparison of elasticity changes in the paraspinal muscles of adolescent patients with scoliosis treated with surgery and bracing.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeChanges in the cross-sectional area (CSA) and functional cross-sectional area (FCSA) of the lumbar multifidus (MF) and erector spinae muscles (ES) are factors that can contribute to low back pain. For the assessment of muscle CSA and composition there are various software and threshold methods used for tissue segmentation in quantitative analysis. However, there is currently no gold standard for software as well as muscle segmentation. This study aims to analyze the measurement error between different image processing software and different threshold methods for muscle segmentation.
methodsMagnetic resonance images (MRI) of 60 patients were evaluated. Muscle CSA and FCSA measurements were acquired from axial T2-weighted MRI of the MF and ES at L4/L5 and L5/S1. CSA, FCSA, and FCSA/CSA ratio were measured independently by two observers. The MRI images were measured using two different software programs (ImageJ and Amira) and with two threshold methods (Circle/Overlap method) for each software to evaluate FCSA and FCSA/CSA ratio.
resultsInter-software comparisons revealed high inter-rater reliability. However, poor inter-rater reliability were obtained with different threshold methods. CSA, FCSA, and FCSA/CSA showed excellent inter-software agreement of 0.75-0.99 regardless of the threshold segmentation method. The inter-rater reliability between the two observers ranged between 0.75 and 0.99. Comparison of the two segmentation methods revealed agreement between 0.19 and 0.84. FCSA and FCSA/CSA measured via the Overlap method were significantly higher than those measured via the Circle method (P < 0.01).
conclusionThe present study showed a high degree of reliability with very good agreement between the two software programs. However, study results based on different threshold methods should not be directly compared.
Indexed as
Identifiers
38055039What OpenQuestion holds
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.