ArticleCureus2024
Assessing the Correlation Between the Lumbar Disc Herniation Degree and Multifidus Muscle Fatty Degeneration in Chronic Low Back Pain.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Advances in mechanical assessments of in vivo human lumbar spine tissues with noninvasive imaging techniques.npj biomedical innovations · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic low back pain (LBP) is a common condition primarily associated with lumbar disc herniation. Fatty degeneration of the multifidus muscle is also observed in the majority (>80%) of patients with LBP.
methodsThis retrospective study included 140 patients (72 females and 68 males) with chronic LBP. 3T lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T1- and T2-weighted fast spin-echo sequences were used for radiological evaluation. Disc herniations were graded according to the degree of bulging, protrusion, extrusion, and sequestration. Multifidus fatty infiltration was semiquantitatively graded from grade 1 (normal) to grade 4 (severe).
resultsMultifidus fatty degeneration was more common in females compared to males at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels (p-values <000.1 and <000.1, respectively). There was no correlation between disc herniation at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels and fatty degeneration of the multifidus muscle (p values 0.426 and 0.170). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between multifidus fatty degeneration at L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels and increasing age (p<000.1, r-values 0.462 and 0.357, respectively). In contrast, there was no correlation between age and L4-L5 and L5-S1 herniation grades (p values 0.167 and 0.723, respectively). Fatty degeneration grades were generally higher in females and increased with age at L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels in both genders (p<0.001).
conclusionsThe frequency and degree of fatty degeneration of the multifidus muscle increase with age, especially in women, and do not correlate with the presence of a herniated disc.
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