title: Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation.
abstract: We performed magnetic resonance imaging on sixty-seven individuals who had never had low-back pain, sciatica, or neurogenic claudication. The scans were interpreted independently by three neuro-radiologists who had no knowledge about the presence or absence of clinical symptoms in the subjects. About one-third of the subjects were found to have a substantial abnormality. Of those who were less than sixty years old, 20 per cent had a herniated nucleus pulposus and one had spinal stenosis. In the group that was sixty years old or older, the findings were abnormal on about 57 per cent of the scans: 36 per cent of the subjects had a herniated nucleus pulposus and 21 per cent had spinal stenosis. There was degeneration or bulging of a disc at at least one lumbar level in 35 per cent of the subjects between twenty and thirty-nine years old and in all but one of the sixty to eighty-year-old subjects. In view of these findings in asymptomatic subjects, we concluded that abnormalities on magnetic resonance images must be strictly correlated with age and any clinical signs and symptoms before operative treatment is contemplated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Boden
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Dina
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Patronas
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Wiesel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000175:diagnosis; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis