• Toshio Nakamae, Kiyotaka Yamada, Takuro Shimbo, Toshikatsu Kanazawa, Teruaki Okuda, Haruhiko Takata, Takashi Hashimoto, Takeshi Hiramatsu, Nobuhiro Tanaka, Mitsuo Ochi, Kjell Olmarker, and Yoshinori Fujimoto.
• *Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, JA Hiroshima General Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan †Ohta Nishinouchi Hospital, Fukushima, Japan ‡Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan §Muskuloskeletal Research, Department of Medical Chemistry and Cellbiology, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Spine. 2016 May 1; 41 (10): 885-92.

Study DesignCross-sectional study.ObjectiveTo examine whether bone marrow edema is associated with low back pain in elderly patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis.Summary Of Background DataThe cause of low back pain in degenerative lumbar scoliosis is unclear.MethodsA total of 120 degenerative lumbar scoliosis patients 65 years of age or older were evaluated. Radiography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and tender point examination in the lumbar spine were performed. On MRI, coronal gadolinium-contrasted T1- or T2-weighed fat-saturated images were used to score the size of bone marrow edema. The prevalence of bone marrow edema in patients with and without low back pain was compared; in patients with low back pain, we tested whether the locations of lumbar tender point were consistent with that of bone marrow edema.ResultsBone marrow edema was found in 62 of 64 (96.9%) patients with low back pain compared with 21 of 56 (37.5%) patients without it (P < 0.001). Bone marrow edema located more frequently on the concave side than on the convex side of scoliosis (P < 0.001). Among patients with low back pain, bone marrow edema score was associated with low back pain severity (r = 0.724; P < 0.001), and the location of lumbar tender point were consistent with that of bone marrow edema (κ value = 0.745; P < 0.001).ConclusionBone marrow edema on MRI was closely associated with the presence of low back pain in elderly degenerative lumbar scoliosis.Level Of Evidence4.

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