ArticleBMC medical imaging2025
Association between lumbar disc degeneration at L4-L5 level and atrophy of paraspinal muscles and gluteus medius: a cross-sectional study using 3T quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.
Article in BMC medical imaging, 2025. 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
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo explore alterations and correlations of multifidus (MF), erector spinae (ES), psoas major (PM), and gluteus medius (Gmed) in intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) using multi-echo Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based water-fat separation.
methodsWe retrospectively collected data from patients who presented to our hospital with low back pain. Proton density fat fraction (PDFF) was measured using the multi-echo Dixon VIBE sequence. IVDD at the L4-L5 level was assessed on T2-weighted sagittal images according to the Pfirrmann grading system. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the relationships between MF, ES, PM, and Gmed cross-sectional area (CSA), PDFF, and IVDD. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to determine independent associations of gender, age, and Pfirrmann grade with CSA and PDFF of the MF, ES, PM and Gmed.
resultsA total of 506 patients with a mean age of 44.43 ± 13.49 years were included. As Pfirrmann grade increased, the CSA of the MF, ES, and PM progressively decreased. With advancing Pfirrmann grade, the PDFF of the MF, ES, and PM demonstrated a progressive increase. The Pfirrmann grade showed a moderate negative correlation with MF and ES CSA (Rho = -0.395, Rho = -0.348, p < 0.001), and a weak negative correlation with PM CSA (Rho = -0.293, p < 0.05). Conversely, Pfirrmann grade demonstrated a strong positive correlation with MF and ES PDFF (Rho = 0.595, Rho = 0.610, p < 0.001), and a moderate positive correlation with PM PDFF (Rho = 0.415, p < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that gender, age, and IVDD were independently associated with CSA and PDFF of the MF and ES muscles (P < 0.001). However, for the PM muscle, only its PDFF showed independent correlations with IVDD, gender, and age, while PM CSA was independently linked to gender and age but not to Pfirrmann grade. With an increase in the Pfirrmann grade of intervertebral discs, Gmed CSA shows a tendency to increase. The Pfirrmann grade demonstrated weak positive correlations with both the Gmed CSA and PDFF (Rho = 0.160, Rho = 0.264, p < 0.001). After adjusting for the confounding effects of sex and age, the Pfirrmann grade remained an independent factor associated with Gmed CSA (β = 0.136, p = 0.001).
conclusionsMRI reliably evaluates paraspinal muscles and Gmed atrophy, particularly in quantifying fat content. PDFF emerges as a valuable tool for assessing fat infiltration in paraspinal muscles.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.