Effects Of Cervical Paravertebral Muscle Abundance And Fat Infiltration Rate On Degenerative Changes In The Cervical Spine

ObjectiveTo assess the association of cervical paraspinal muscles with cervical degenerative changes by measuring cervical paravertebral muscle parameters and cervical degeneration parametersMethodsRetrospective analysis of patient data visited at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from October 2019 to June 2021;The deep extensor cervical extensor area,superficial extensor area,corresponding vertebral body cross-sectional area,and fat infiltration rate of each muscle group at the C3-C6 vertebral level were measured by Image J software in MRI images,and DEA/VBA,SEA/VBA,deep extensor cervical extensor group FIR and superficial extensor cervical extensor fir were taken as paravertebral muscle parameters of the cervical spine;The C2₇ Cobb angle,C0₂ Cobb angle,C7 slope and C2₇ sagittal vertical axis and T1 oblique angle measured on the X-ray tomography fusion image by the PACS system are used as the sagittal position parameters of the cervical spine;The degeneration grading and Modic changes of the C3-C6 disc at the C3-C6 level were evaluated on the MRI image by the PACS system;The anteroposterior diameter of the spinal canal is measured by Image J software.Cervical sagittal parameters,grading of intervertebral disc degeneration,AP and MCs were taken as parameters for cervical degeneration;Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the paravertebral muscle parameters of the cervical spine and the parameters of degenerative changes in the cervical spine.ResultsA total of 140 patients were included in this study,including 48 males（34.30%）,92 females（65.70%）,and 50.00（40.25,55.00）years of age;Speraman correlation analysis showed that:In terms of cervical sagittal sequences and paravertebral muscle abundance and fat infiltration,the C2-7 Cobb angle was positively correlated with the deep cervical extensor FIR（r=0.219、r=0.252,P<0.05）at the C3-C4 level;C7S is positively correlated with SEA/VBA（r=0.174、r=0.221、r=0.237,P<0.05）and FIR of deep cervical extensor group（r=0.192、r=0.314、r=0.184,P<0.05）at C3、C4、C5 levels;T1S is positively correlated with FIR of deep cervical extensor group（r=0.318、r=0.239、r=0.191,P<0.05）at C4、C5、C6 levels;In terms of AP and paravertebral muscle abundance and fat infiltration rate,Ap is positively correlated with the DEA/VBA（r=0.195、r=0.226、r=0.225,P<0.05）at the C4-C6 level in the C3/4 segment,Ap is positively correlated with the DEA/VBA（r=0.225、r=0.225、r=0.182,P<0.05）at the C4-C6 level in the C4/5 segment;Disc degeneration in paravertebral muscle abundance and fat infiltration rate,disc degeneration is inversely correlated with the DEA/VBA r=-0.171、r=-0.189,P<0.05)at the C5-C6 level in the C5/6 segment,Disc degeneration is inversely correlated with the DEA/VBA（r=-0.237、r=-0.314,P<0.05）at the C5-C6 level in the C6/7 segment,Disc degeneration is positively correlated with the extensor deep cervical muscle group FIR（r=0.198、r=0.239、r=0.245、r=0.156,P<0.05）at the C3-C6 level in the C4/5 segment,Disc degeneration is positively correlated with the FIR of the superficial extensor cervical muscle group（r=0.237、r=0.252、r=0.291,P<0.05）at the C3-C5 level in the C4/5 segment,Disc degeneration is positively correlated with the superficial extensor cervical muscle group FIR（r=0.242、r=0.266、r=0.250、r=0.241,P<0.05）at the C3-C6 level in the C6/7 segment;In terms of MCs in paravertebral muscle and fat infiltration rate,MCs in the C4/5 segment are positively correlated with FIR of the extensor deep cervical muscle group（r=0.199、r=0.286、r=0.172,P<0.05）at the C3-C5 level.ConclusionsThere is a correlation between the abundance of the paravertebral muscles of the cervical spine and the rate of fat infiltration and degenerative changes in the cervical spine.Cervical paravertebral muscles are one of the important f actors in maintaining the sagittalsequence of the cervical spine,and there are d ifferent degrees of correlation with the degeneration of AP,MCs and interverte bral discs.