Relationship Between Paraspinal Muscles Degeneration And Degeneration Of Facet Joint With CT

Objective To investigate the relationship between paravertebral muscledensity and intervertebral disc degeneration with quantitative CT technique.Methods 101 patients(44male,57 female)with low back pain or sciaticwere enrolled in this study.The lumbar imaging protocol is routine axial CT.Degeneration of facet joint in L3-S1 segment were qualitatively evaluated by using Pathria grading system in axialscanning CT imaging.Two experienced radiologists were employed to measure the CT values of the central plane of the l3-s1 vertebral facet joint relative to psoas muscle(PS),multifidus muscle(MF),and erector spinae muscle(ES).The paravertebral muscles were classifed according to 4 Pathria grades of the same level of DOFJ into 4 groups.Univariate analysis of variance(ANOVA)was employed to judge the difference of the density of paravertebral muscles among these groups,Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between Pathria degeneration of DOFJ and degeneration of paravertebral muscles,and P < 0.05 was considered statistically signifcant.Results Pathria grades of DOFJ were associated with the Age,and BMI(correlation coeffcients were 0.35,0.17,P values were 0.00);After control age and BMI,Pathria grades of DOFJ were associated with the CT value of PS,ES and MF(correlation coeffcients were-0.19,-0.53,-0.45,P values were0.00).There was no significant difference in the correlation between the right and left paravertebral muscles and the grade of facet joint degeneration.The grading correlation between paraspinal muscle and lumbar facet joint Pathria at different segments was consistent with the whole,and the correlation was all MF > ES >PS.Gender factors had the most obvious effect on PS,but had little effect on MF and ES.Conclusion There was a moderate correlation between the CT value of ES and MF and the grade of facet joint degeneration,while that was weak of PS.