Prevalence of lumbar disc herniation and disc degeneration in asymptomatic Indian subjects: An MRI based study

Abstract

Background: India is a country with a huge human resource been utilised for labour and also is a country of diversity in culture and religions. Thus we have numerous activities which involve bending and twisting of the spine. Therefore we expect more disc degeneration and disc herniation compared to the western world. Indian health care system has traditional medicine and modern medicine. Both systems has easy access to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which in fact will display both physiological and pathological changes. This may miss-lead a less experienced health worker and can also create a bad mental impact on an otherwise normal individual. Aim: Analyse the prevalence of lumbar disc degeneration and herniation in asymptomatic Indian subjects using MRI Materials and Methods: this was an observational study where we selected subjects without any low back related symptoms and signs and allowed them to undergo lumbar spine screening using a 0.2 tesla machine. Results: We had 76 subjects with a mean age of 43.7 and studied 380 discs in 4 different age groups. Among disc herniation 273 discs (71.8%) were normal and 107 discs (28.2%) had pathological changes in the form of bulge 68(17.8%), protrusions 30(7.8%) and extrusions 9(2%). None of the subjects had sequestration. Among disc degeneration 256(67.3%) were Grade 1& 2 and 124 (32.7%) were Grade 3, 4&5. In the 76 subjects 37% had disc herniation and 33% had grade 3, 4 and 5 degeneration. Conclusion: The high prevalence of disc degeneration and disc herniation in MRI of normal subjects, emphasize the value of clinical history and clinical evaluation before starting precious treatment.Keywords: disc degeneration, herniation, MRI, asymptomatic subjects Introduction According to literature, the prevalence of lumbar pain at one time point was approximately 30-40% in Germany. The one year and lifetime prevalence was approximately 60-70% and more than 80%, respectively

Clinical presentation of sciatica in South Indian population

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A survey based study of quality of life in stroke patients ambulating with walker

“…1 Disc pathologies constitute a large proportion of the back-pain spectrum. 2 The statistics in Pakistan conform to the global statistics. 2,3 Pakistan is a developing country and most of its population is reliant on manual techniques for lifting weights.…”

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