Abstract
Introduction
A comparative study of the spinopelvic sagittal alignment in patients with lumbar disc degeneration or herniation (LDD/LDH) with normal population was designed to analyze roles of sagittal anatomical parameter (pelvic incidence, PI) and positional parameters in the pathogenesis and development of LDD/LDH. Several comparative studies of these patients with asymptomatic controls have been done. However, in previous studies without lumbar MRI, a certain number of asymptomatic LDD patients should have been included in the control group and then impacted on the results.
Materials and Methods
Total 60 LDD or LDH patients and 110 asymptomatic volunteers were included. Based on MRI, the normal group (NG) and degeneration group (DG) were divided. In DG, the symptomatic (SDG) and asymptomatic (ADG) subgroups were divided according to patients’ symptoms. Standing full-spine radiographs were used to measure sagittal parameters, including PI, sacral slope (SS), pelvic tilt (PT), lumbar lordosis (LL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), and sacrum-bicoxofemoral distance (SFD).
Results
PI, SS, and LL in DG were significantly lower than NG while the SVA and SFD were significantly greater (p < 0.05). PI correlated well with the SS and LL in all subjects; however the trend lines of SS or LL over PI were down-shifted in DG. Comparing SDG to ADG, PI was similar (p = 0.716) but SS and LL were significantly lower and SVA was significantly greater (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
PI may play a predisposing role in the pathogenesis of lumbar disc degenerative diseases. Moreover, the secondary structural and compensatory factors would lead to a straighter spine after disc degenerative change.
None declared
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