Magnetic Resonance Myelography in Diagnosis of Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Background: MR Myelography (MRM) has been used as a useful diagnostic tool that has some advantages as being noninvasive, does not use ionizing radiation or intrathecal contrast material, and can be performed easily during routine MR spine imaging. The purpose of our study was to assess the role of MR Myelography in diagnosis of patients with chronic low back pain. Result: Out of the studies 30 patients with low back pain; 10 of them were males and 20 females with their ages ranged from 20 to 65 years with a mean of 43.4±11.4, and 19 patients were had degenerative disc disease, 7 patients post traumatic, 3 patients spinal canal stenosis and one patient systemic disease, and 14 patients had disc bulge, 15 patients disc protrusion. By MRM, 23 patients had compression on right exit nerve roots and 27 patients on left exit nerve roots, 27 patients had compression on thecal sac. Thecal sac size was mildly stenosed in 18 patients, severely stenosed in 6 patients and wide in one patient. Conclusion: MRM is a valuable tool in assessment of the chronic low back pain when compared to conventional MRI as it is the best imaging modality to the thecal sac which show excellent definition of thecal margins, nerve roots and nerve root sheaths.