Objectives: To analyze whether multifidus degeneration has a relationship with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).
Materials and methods: Clinical data of 40 patients with LSS were analyzed retrospectively. Moreover, 40 healthy people were selected as controls. Subjects of both groups underwent a 1.5-T lumbar spinal magnetic resonance imaging scan in our hospital, and then the multifidus muscularity, fatty infiltration ratio, and bilateral asymmetry at L4/5 level on magnetic resonance imaging were measured with ImageJ software to analyze and compare the multifidus parameters between the 2 groups.
Results: Compared with the control group, the multifidus muscularity was lower, fatty infiltration ratio was greater, and muscle asymmetry was more significant at the L4/5 level in patients with LSS, and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant.
Conclusions: Multifidus degeneration, including reduced volume, increased fatty infiltration, and bilateral muscle asymmetry, has an association with LSS.
Keywords: Bilateral asymmetry; Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis; Fatty infiltration ratio; Multifidus degeneration; Muscularity.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.