Fatıh Kırcın, Radiology Clinic, Afyonkarahisar Sandikli State Hospital, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
Bahar Yanık, Department of Radiology, Balikesir University School of Medicine, Balikesir, Turkey
Erdogan Bulbul, Department of Radiology, Balikesir University School of Medicine, Balikesir, Turkey
Emrah Akay, Department of Radiology, Balikesir University School of Medicine, Balikesir, Turkey
Gulen Demırpolat, Department of Radiology, Balikesir University School of Medicine, Balikesir, Turkey
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of the use of shear wave elastography (SWE) in comparison to chemical shift encoding (CSE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the evaluation of multifidus muscle fatty degeneration in patients with chronic low back pain. Method: Multifidus muscles were evaluated with the CSE-MRI and SWE examinations in control and patient groups. With the in-phase and out-phase sequences in CSE-MRI, signal intensity index (SII), and signal intensity suppression ratio (SISR) values; with the SWE method, shear wave velocity values were determined. Differences in the mean values of these parameters per level and study group were analyzed by Student’s t-test. Results: SWE revealed significantly lower stiffness at the L2-3 level, consistent with the signal index values (SII-SISR) showing increased fatty infiltration on MRI in the patient group. No such relationship was found at the L4-5 level or in control group. Conclusions: SWE may be a promising method to show muscle fatty infiltration at L2-3 level in patients with chronic low back pain.
Keywords: Fatty infiltration. muscle. Opposed-phase. Shear wave elastography. Stiffness. Low back pain. Magnetic resonance imaging. Multifidus.