Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine

Original Article: J Korean Acad Rehabil Med. 2005;29(5):462-468.; The Relation between Radiologic and Electromyographic Findings in Patients with Low Back Pain.; Park, Young Jae , Kim, Dong Hun , Kim, Mi Jung , Choi, Ki Seob; ¹Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Gwang-Ju City Geriatric Hospital, Korea. youngreh@ihanyang.ac.kr
²Department of Radiology, Chosun University College of Medicine, Korea.
³Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Korea.

Abstract: Objective
To determine the relations of spinal measurements on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), myelography and electromyography (EMG) in patients with low back pain. Method: We investigated forty four patients who were underwent both imaging and electrodiagnostic evaluation. Spinal geometric measurements in axial MRI included anteroposterior (AP) diameters of canal and thecal sac, interlaminar distance, width of lateral recess, thickness of ligamentum flavum, and the findings of a root deviation. This study investigated: 1) correlation of MRI disc herniation types with EMG and myelogram findings, 2) correlation of EMG findings with axial MRI spinal measurements and myelogram findings, 3) correlation of myelogram with axialMRI spinal measurements. Results: The MRI disc herniation types did not relate to EMG and myelogram findings. Findings of the root compression on myelogram related to the width of lateral recess and thecal sac AP diameter only (p＜0.05). There were nonparametric correlations between myelogram findings and the findings of root deviation on MRI (p＜0.05). Conclusion: There were little correlations between EMG findings and other imaging studies. In addition, we suggest not only the disc herniation type, but also the width of lateral recess and thecal sac AP diameter is helpful in interpreting the axial spinal MRI. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2005; 29: 462-468)

Keywords :Spinal geometric parameters, Magnetic resonance imaging, Myelography, Electromyography, Radiculopathy