Assessment of Association Between Low Back Pain and Paraspinal Muscle Atrophy Using Opposed-Phase Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

Low back symptoms and functional limitations over a 3-year period were not associated with increased fat content or a reduction in the cross-sectional area of lumbar paraspinal muscles among young adults.

Inter-rater reliability of trunk muscle morphometric analysis

“…In addition, due to the range of MFI quantification methods, MFI intra-and inter-rater reliability findings may not be easily compared across studies. Using opposedphase MRI, intra-rater reliability of lumbar multifidus and erector spinae MFI was found to be high in patients with persistent low back pain, with an ICC range of 0.86 to 0.88 (5). This study also found an equally high inter-rater reliability (ICC 0.85 -0.87) for MFI in these muscles.…”

“…Accordingly, the high inter-rater findings from the present study cannot be compared. Equally, due to a lack of reports on MFI inter-rater reliability, comparisons from the present study to existing literature is very limited; however, a high inter-rater reliability (ICC 0.85 -0.87) for MFI in M and ES muscles using opposed-phase MRI has been shown (5). These values are similar to the findings in the present study for M and ES MFI (M 0.83-0.88; ES 0.96) although a different fat quantification method was used in the present study.…”

“…Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used to quantify and determine any association between muscle morphology and neuromusculoskeletal pathology or dysfunction through the evaluation of muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) and muscle fatty infiltrate (MFI) (5,8,9,10,11,12). These parameters of muscle morphology are also often investigated to identify expected age-related muscle changes (13,14).…”

“…Many, though not all, studies analysing spinal muscle CSA and MFI report intra-and/or inter-rater reliability as part of their investigations (4,5,7,15,16), many of which demonstrate strong intra-rater reliability of lumbar erector spinae and multifidus CSA, with an intraclass correlation (ICC) ranging from 0.85 (5,15) to 0.98 (4) and an inter-rater reliability ranging from 0.77 (7) to 0.85 (5). However, the specific reporting of intra-and/or inter-rater reliability findings is often lacking regarding the description of the methodology of assessor agreement and assessor experience.…”

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IntroductionMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used to quantify and determine any association between muscle morphology and neuromusculoskeletal pathology or dysfunction through the evaluation of muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) and muscle fatty infiltrate (MFI) (5,8,9,10,11,12). These parameters of muscle morphology are also often investigated to identify expected age-related muscle changes (13,14).

Many, though not all, studies analysing spinal muscle CSA and MFI report intra-and/or inter-rater reliability as part of their investigations (4,5,7,15,16), many of which demonstrate strong intra-rater reliability of lumbar erector spinae and multifidus CSA, with an intraclass correlation (ICC) ranging from 0.85 (5, 15) to 0.98 (4) and an inter-rater reliability ranging from 0.77 (7) to 0.85 (5).

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