Analysis of the Prevalence of Lumbar Annular Tears in Adult Patients Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the lumbar annular tears prevalence regarding the patient’s history factors, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) recorded data. Materials and Methods: In this study, 218 patients (106 men and 112 women) were evaluated; 136 cases (63 men and 73 women, 20-80 years, mean: 45.4±14.8 years) with Lower Back Pain (LBP) and High-Intensity Zone (HIZ) were diagnosed based on MR images. The diagnosed annular tears from the MRI data, Body Mass Index (BMI, kg/m2), and physical activity of the patients were recorded, and the prevalence of lumbar annular tears was evaluated regarding the mentioned parameters. Results: The prevalence of annular tears was 31.6% at L5/S1 (43/136 patients), 43.4% at L4/L5 (59/136 patients), 16.9% at L3/L4 (23/136 patients), 4.4% at L2/L3 (6/136 patients), and 3.7% at L1/L2 spinal disc space (5/136 patients). Most patients with annular tears had LBP (>60%). Based on the patient's history, 25% of patients had BMI above 30, 8.8% had post-traumatic history, 15.4% had a history of falling down, 19.1% had slipped down history, 16.2% were athletes, and 15.4% performed heavy work. Conclusion: The prevalence of lumbar annular tears was higher in patients having LBP and a BMI over 30, which should be considered possible risk factors. This study demonstrated that annular tears are more likely to occur in lower lumbar discs, especially in L4/L5 and L5/S1 discs.