Fat in the lumbar multifidus muscles - predictive value and change following disc prosthesis surgery and multidisciplinary rehabilitation in patients with chronic low back pain and degenerative disc: 2-year follow-up of a randomized trial

Table 1 Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics

Characteristics	Predictor analysis (137 patients, 137 examinations)	Analysis of change in fat infiltration (126 patients, 252 examinations)
1.5 T	121 / 137 examinations (88%)	235 / 252 examinations (93%)
Sagittal T1-weighted images	128 / 137: FSE (TR / TE, 350 − 911 ms / 7.4 − 20 ms) 8 / 137: FLAIR images (TR / TE, 1984 − 2130 ms / 20 − 22.1 ms)	244 / 252 FSE (TR / TE, 360 − 911 ms / 7 − 22 ms) 7 / 252 FLAIR images (TR / TE, 1984 − 2130 ms / 20 − 22 ms)
Sagittal T2-weighted images	136 / 137 FSE (TR / TE, 2511 − 4760 ms / 70 − 140 ms)	251^a / 252 FSE (TR / TE, 2000 − 5070 ms / 70 − 140 ms) and/or DRIVE images (FSE with 90° Flip-Back Pulse: TR / TE 700 ms / 135 − 140 ms): 236 FSE only (126 pre-treatment and 110 2-year) 12 DRIVE only (all 2-year), and 3 both FSE and DRIVE (all 2-year)
Axial images at L3/L4, L4/L5 and L5/S1	134 / 137 (105 T2-weighted, 27 T1-weighted, and 19 proton density-weighted images)	247 / 252 (213 T2-weighted, 31 T1-weighted, and 19 proton density-weighted images)

TR repetition time, TE echo time, FLAIR fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery, FSE fast spin echo
^aone examination lacked sagittal T2-weighted FSE images at 2 years but included sagittal STIR (short tau inversion-recovery) images

ISSN: 1471-2474