Correlation between Magnetic Resonance Imaging Modic Endplate Changes and Histopathological Inflammatory Activity in...

Lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD) is a condition that is a major cause of individuals having persistent lower back pain and functional deficits. Modic endplate alterations detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have evolved into key diagnostic features for evaluating vertebral and disc pathologies. Researchers have yet to carry out adequate studies to ascertain the relationship between histopathological inflammatory activity and these imaging outcomes.

This hospital-based cross-sectional analytical study included 50 patients with lumbar DDD undergoing surgical intervention. Pre-operative MRI was used to classify Modic endplate changes into Types I, II, and III categories. Vertebral endplate and disc tissue samples were collected intraoperatively for histopathological assessment of inflammatory activity. The authors analyzed their data with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 26.0. The researchers conducted Chi-square testing to identify the relationship between Modic types and inflammation, with P < 0.05 as the threshold for testing the relationship between the two.

Modic Type II changes appeared in 44% of the 50 patients, whereas Type I changes showed up in 40%, and Type III changes appeared in 16% of the cases. In 42% of cases, doctors observed moderate inflammation, whereas 30% showed severe inflammation. The study found that Modic Type I changes developed a strong link to severe inflammatory activity because 50% of Type I cases showed severe inflammation. The study showed that Type II changes mainly caused mild-to-moderate inflammation. The study found a statistically significant correlation between Modic changes and histopathological inflammation (P = 0.002). The study found that higher inflammation grades resulted in increased pain severity.

The research demonstrates that MRI Modic endplate changes, which include Type I changes, show a strong link to histopathological inflammatory activity that occurs in lumbar DDD. The study results show that MRI functions as an effective non-invasive method to evaluate internal inflammation, which helps medical professionals make treatment decisions.