Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39841352›Full record

ArticleJournal of ultrasound2025

Classification of paravertebral muscle trophism and its correlation with thoraco-lumbar fascia thickening in patients with chronic low back pain.

Fabio Vita, Danilo Donati, Davide Pederiva, Salvatore Massimo Stella, Roberto Tedeschi, Marco Miceli, Cesare Faldini, Stefano Galletti

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Article in Journal of ultrasound, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Fabio VitaIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, 1st Orthopaedics and Traumatology clinic, Bologna, Italy.
Danilo DonatiPhysical Therapy and Rehabilitation Unit, Policlinico Di Modena, Modena, Italy.
Davide PederivaIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, 1st Orthopaedics and Traumatology clinic, Bologna, Italy.
Salvatore Massimo StellaDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, SIUMB Advanced School for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound, University Post-Graduate Course, Santa Chiara University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
Roberto TedeschiDepartment of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences (DIBINEM), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni 33, 40126, Bologna, Italy. roberto.tedeschi2@unibo.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9037-4767
Marco MiceliDiagnostic and Interventional Radiology, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Cesare FaldiniIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, 1st Orthopaedics and Traumatology clinic, Bologna, Italy.
Stefano GallettiMusculoskeletal Ultrasound School, Italian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Bologna, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe aim of this work is to demonstrate how the chronicity of low back pain can modify the trophism of the paraspinal muscles, by performing an ultrasound and MRI evaluation of the paraspinal muscles in the lumbar spine and correlating it to the time of onset of low back pain. MATERIALS AND

methodsAn ultrasound evaluation was carried out in the lumbar area with a 5-17 MHz linear probe of the paraspinal muscles of the lumbar region, compared with the MRI of the lumbar spine, in patients presented to our attention for chronic low back pain (> 6 months), from January 2021 to January 2023. In each patient, two series of images were analyzed, in the coronal and sagittal planes.

resultsBetween January 2021 and January 2023, a total of 79 patients were retrospectively evaluated by ultrasound for chronic low back pain. The patients, including 46 men and 33 women, had an average age of 51.6 years (min 24-max 74). In the evaluation of the profile of the paravertebral muscles, 22 patients (27.8%) showed hypotrophy of the paravertebral muscles with a concave profile, while the measurement of the thickness of the fascia showed an average thickness of 2.19 mm with a range between 1, 3 and 3.2 mm and an interquartile range of 1.7-2.65 mm. 77.2% of patients with a concave profile showed a thickness of the FTL > 2.5 mm, and an average duration of symptoms of approximately 15.3 months, to demonstrate a correlation between muscle hypotrophy, thickness of the FTL and duration of onset of symptoms.

conclusionIn the evaluation of chronic low back pain carried out with MRI and ultrasound, the paravertebral musculature profile and the thickness of the thoracolumbar fascia are two instrumental data which, associated with the proposed classification and correlated to the clinical picture, allow to determine the chronicity of the pathological picture.

Indexed as

Chronic PainFasciaLow Back PainParaspinal MusclesAdultAgedFemaleHumansLumbar VertebraeLumbosacral RegionMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesUltrasonographyYoung AdultLow back painThoraco-lumbar fascia (FTL)Ultrasound and MRI evaluation

Identifiers

PMID39841352
PMCPMC12496364

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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.