MRI - what important findings can it show in children with back pain?

The percentage of school-age children who have already had an episode of back pain can be as high as 51%, and the incidence of the disease increases with age and physical activity. This paper summarizes the MR examinations of children with back pain carried out at the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw and highlights pathological findings, which have been shown in them.

Analyses were done of 121 MR examinations carried out because of back pain in children. All of them were performed with a GE Signa HDxt 1.5 T scanner according to routine protocol: SE/T1-weighted images in sagittal and axial plane, FSE/T2-weighted images in sagittal and axial plane, STIR sequence in sagittal plane. If necessary, coronal plane was added and contrast agent was administered.

Negative results - no changes - were obtained in 91 children (75.2%). Positive results were found in 30 children, which accounts for 24.8%. Among the lesions there were degenerative changes of intervertebral disks as an isolated finding in 9 children (7.4%), Scheuermann's disease in 2 (1.7%), intervertebral disks herniations in 13 (10.7%), spondylolisthesis in 2 (1.7%), sacroiliitis in 1 (0.8%), intervertebral facet joint arthritis in 1 (0.8%), tumors in 2 (1.7%).

Back pain in children is a growing problem, and in ¼ of the cases is reflected by pathological changes visible on MRI, which is the best method of imaging the causes of back pain in children and adolescents.