ReviewJOR spine2025
MRI-Based Grading Systems for Assessing Lumbar Disc Degeneration: A Scoping Review.
Review in JOR spine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- From Modic changes to the disc-endplate-bone marrow complex: imaging stratification, immune remodeling, and translational implications in intervertebral disc degeneration.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Review
- Mechanism-guided biomaterial strategies for intervertebral disc degeneration: Pathological heterogeneity, functional classification, and translational perspectives.Journal of tissue engineeringReview
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background Context: An array of different MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) based grading systems is used to measure disc degeneration (DD) in the lumbar spine. It is currently unclear which grading systems are most commonly used to assess lumbar DD and how these grading systems are applied and reported. Purpose: The aim of this scoping review was to describe different MRI-based grading systems for DD in the lumbar spine and report which grading systems have been assessed for measurement properties such as reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change. Study Design/Setting: Scoping review. Methods: A search was conducted in EMBASE, Medline, and CINAHL for studies related to MRI-based grading systems for DD in the lumbar spine, conducted in living humans. Data were extracted from each study, including the description of the grading system, which levels of the lumbar spine were graded, who graded the degeneration, how the degeneration was scored for analysis, and whether measurement properties such as reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change were assessed. Results: The search identified 569 studies that graded DD. Ninety-three different grading systems were identified, including 63 subjective systems, 25 quantitative systems, and 5 that were unspecified. The Pfirrmann method was used in over 50% of all reports. A range of grading components was used to measure DD, with disc signal intensity (DSI), disc height (DH), and the assessment of the distinctiveness between the annulus and nucleus being most common. Sensitivity to change was rarely assessed. Conclusion: A large number of DD grading systems were identified in this review, many of which were infrequently used. Variability in methods of assessing DD on MRI and how the MRI data is synthesized may influence reported associations between DD and low back pain (LBP).
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What 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.