AbstractBackground: Degenerative disc disease describes the natural breakdown of an intervertebral disc of the spine. Despite its name, DDD is not considered a disease, nor is it progressively degenerative. On the contrary, disc degeneration is often the effect of natural daily stresses and minor injuries that cause spinal discs to gradually lose water as the annulus fibrosis, or the rigid outer shell of a disc, weakens. As discs weaken and lose water, they begin to collapse. This can result in pressure being put on the nerves in the spinal column, causing pain and weakness.
Aim: To evaluate the role of MRI in lumber degenerative disc disease in LS spine.
Methodology: A prospective study was conducted on 45 patients with clinical impression of lumbar degenerative disc disease Patients were subjected to MRI scanning studied.
Result: Disc bulge were most commonly found in females [55.55%], and also the ratio was close to the males [44.44%]. Bulging of disc in female show most commonly in L4-L5, Bulging of disc in male show most commonly in L3-L4. Lumbar disc abnormality was observed maximum in patients between 46-60 years (20 patients).
Conclusion: It was observed that MRI scan may be useful as a complimentary/adjunct modality to increase the diagnostic read of the lumbar disc degeneration in patients with in clinical documented lower back ache and other clinically symptoms. Since this study contains small sample size with possibility of inherent bias.
