Clinical manifestations and MRI findings of patients with hydrated and dehydrated lumbar disc herniation.
OBJECTIVE
In addition to the expected appearance of degenerated discs that become dehydrated, hydrated intervertebral disc herniations are sometimes encountered in radiologic practice. This study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical manifestations and MRI findings of hydrated and dehydrated herniated intervertebral discs.


METHODS
This cross-sectional single-institution study included 73 patients with dehydrated (group I) and hydrated (group II) lumbar disk herniation. The criteria for hydrated and dehydrated disc herniation were subjective criteria compared to the normal signal of intervertebral discs. A herniated disc has been regarded to be hydrated if more than two thirds of it was hypersignal in T2-weighted images, while more than two thirds of a dehydrated disc was hyposignal on T2-weighted images.


RESULTS
The mean weight of patients in group I was greater than that of patients in group II (69.3 versus 64.2 kg, P < 0.05). Also, patients in group I tended to be older than those in group II (35.2 versus 28.9 years). Regarding physical activity, a greater number of patients in group II had intense physical activity compared to group I patients (25% versus 13.2%, respectively; P < 0.05). The duration of radicular pain and back pain was significantly greater in group I than in group II (485 versus 202 and 1346 versus 242 days, respectively; P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Hydrated intervertebral disc herniation tends to be associated with younger age, lighter body weight, shorter duration of radicular pain, and more intense physical activity compared to dehydrated intervertebral disc herniation. These findings may suggest other mechanisms rather than degenerative changes for hydrated disc herniation.
Rasekhi
Alireza
A
Department of Radiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Namazee Square, Namazee Hospital, Shiraz, Iran.
Babaahmadi
Abdolrahman
A
Assadsangabi
Reza
R
Nabavizadeh
Seyyed Ali
SA
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003681:Dehydration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male