Status of Lumbar Spinal mri Indications in the Diagnostic Management of Lumbar Spinal Pathologies in Hospitals in Kinshasa and Brazzaville about 302 Patients

Abstract

Objective: Consist of making an inventory of the indications for lumbar spinal MRI in the diagnostic management of lumbar spinal pathologies in hospitals in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. About 302 patients. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective, documentary and multicenter study on 302 patients who underwent lumbar spine MRI examinations in 18 months in hospitals in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Results: The mean age of patients was 53.4 years. The most represented age group was 50 to 59 years old. The female sex was predominant (55.4%) with a ratio of 0.79. The majority of patients (68.2%) came from Kinshasa. Lumboradiculgia was the most represented indication (49.3%) followed by low back pain (48%). The majority of MRI examinations (91.4%) were performed without injection of contrast product. T1 and T2 weightings were performed in 100% of patients. Degenerative disc disease was found at (41.7%) and lumbar disc herniation at (27.2%). The MRI examination was normal in (47%) of the patients. Based on potentially clinically positive relevance, only 48.7% of our MRI diagnose were clinically positive. Age (p=0.000), lumboradiculgia (p=0.000) and specialist physician prescription (0.039) had a statistically significant relationship with clinically positive diagnosis. Conclusion: The use of lumbar spinal MRI examination was inappropriate in our study; this opinion mostly corroborates the observations of the literature. A codification of lumbar MRI indications in the radiological exploration of lumbar spinal disorders would avoid abusive and expensive prescriptions for a study population with low economic income.