Background and Aim:Chronic back pain is one of the most important reasons of individuals' reference to clinic, so that no determined recognition is posed in considerable number of such individuals. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis are two important pathologies that people might be afflicted with for years but they might be unaware of it. Therefore, such diseases may account for chronic back pain. This study aims at analyzing prevalence of these two injuries in individuals afflicted with chronic back pain. Methods and Materials/Patients:This has been a cross-sectional study for two years on individuals who referred to our clinic with complaining about chronic back pain with taken magnetic resonance imaging and radiography of spine for diagnosis of their problem. Information related to current pathologies in imaging was extracted and registered from an interpretation of physician and radiologist report. Results:In this study, 289 out of 692 studied individuals were male. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis were observed in 8.6% and 13% of them, respectively. Prevalence of spondylolisthesis in women (18%) was significantly more than that in men especially by aging. There was no statistically significant relationship between spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. Conclusion:Spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis account for chronic back pain in aged women with prevalence of 13% and 8.6%, respectively. Keywords:

Purpose: We evaluated the ability of muscle ultrasound (MUS), a non-invasive and simple tool, to distinguish between healthy subjects and individuals with inflammatory myopathy. Methods: This study was conducted on 17 patients with recently diagnosed biopsy-proven inflammatory myopathies (12 dermatomyositis, five polymyositis) compared with 17 age- and gender-matched healthy control adults. All patients underwent clinical assessments, including manual muscle testing (MMT) and hand-held dynamometry, as well as MUS evaluations, including thickness and echointensity (EI) in predefined muscle groups. Results: The disease duration was seven months (interquartile range: 3-11). Except for biceps and gastrocnemius, the patients' muscles had significantly higher EI and lower thickness in comparison with the controls, The EI sum-score manifested the highest area under curve (AUC) in comparison with the sum-scores of other variables (EI vs. MMT: AUCs-difference = 0.18, p < 0.01; EI vs. dynamometry: AUCs-difference = 0.14, p = 0.02; EI vs. thickness: AUCs-difference = 0.25, p < 0.01). Conclusion: EI of muscles differed significantly between healthy individuals and those with inflammatory myopathies and may potentially serve as a useful diagnostic biomarker.