Musculoskeletal Dimension and Brightness Reference Values in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Radio-anatomic Investigation in 80 Healthy Adult Individuals

Balling, Horst; Holzapfel, Boris Michael; Böcker, Wolfgang; Simon, Dominic; Reidler, Paul; Arnholdt, Jörg (2024): Musculoskeletal Dimension and Brightness Reference Values in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Radio-anatomic Investigation in 80 Healthy Adult Individuals. Journal of Clinical Medicine. ISSN 2077-0383

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred diagnostic means to visualise spinal pathologies, and offers the possibility of precise structural tissue analysis. However, knowledge about MRI-based measurements of physiological cross-sectional musculo- skeletal dimensions and associated tissue-specific average structural brightness in the lumbar spine of healthy young women and men is scarce. The current study was planned to investigate characteristic intersexual differences and to provide MRI-related musculoskeletal baseline values before the onset of biological aging. Methods: At a single medical centre, lumbar MRI scans of 40 women and 40 men aged 20-40 years who presented with moderate nonspecific low back pain were retrospectively evaluated for sex-specific differences of cross-sectional sizes of fifth lumbar vertebrae, psoas and posterior paravertebral muscles, and respective sex- and age-dependent average brightness alterations on T2-weighted axial sections in the L5-level. Results: In women (mean age 33.5 years +/- 5.0 (standard deviation)), investigated musculoskeletal cross-sectional area sizes were significantly smaller (p<.001) compared to those in men (mean age 33.0 years +/- 5.7). Respective average musculoskeletal brightness values were higher in women compared to those in men, and most pronounced in posterior paravertebral muscles (p<.001). By correlating brightness results to those of subcutaneous fat tissue, all intersexual differences, including those between fifth lumbar vertebrae and psoas muscles, turned out to be statistically significant. This phenomenon was least pronounced in psoas muscles. Conclusions: Lumbar musculoskeletal parameters showed significantly larger dimensions of investigated anatomical structures in men compared to those in women aged 20-40 years, and an earlier onset and faster progress of bone loss and muscle degradation in women.

• Dokumententyp: Artikel (Klinikum der LMU)
• Organisationseinheit (Fakultäten): 07 Medizin > Klinikum der LMU München > MUM - Muskuloskelettales Universitätszentrum München
• DFG-Fachsystematik der Wissenschaftsbereiche: Lebenswissenschaften
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 491502892